


Forget Me Not

by RosenMae



Series: Forget Me Not's [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: Alpha Steve Rogers, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Amputee Bucky Barnes, Captain America Steve Rogers, Captain America Steve Rogers/Modern Bucky Barnes, Communication, Dating, Dum-dum Dugan is the best bro, First Meetings, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Meet-Cute, Not Beta Read, Omega Bucky Barnes, Omega Verse, References to PTSD, Shrunkyclunks, Steve Rogers Swears, Time Skips, War Veteran Bucky Barnes, everybody swears, just a little, past POW Bucky Barnes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:48:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 24,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26773186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RosenMae/pseuds/RosenMae
Summary: Bucky thinks he's getting to a good place with his life. His sister's just had a baby, so he's working in the flower shop a lot right now, but he's pretty much gotten a hand (hah) of it now. He's recovering as well as can be expected from the army and only having one arm now, but his apartment is fine, his life is fine, things are pretty much good actually. He doesn't have much expectations for tomorrow, but today is fine, and that's enough.Little does he know that metaphorical slice of sunshine is about to walk into the shop in the form of a really polite, if somewhat sad, handsome alphaSteve's always been someone who wore his heart on his sleeve, not that he's had much practice at being much other than Captain America. What he expects when he walks into the little shop is to get a bouquet of flowers and be on his way. He certainly isn't expecting this. He isn't expecting the sweet and kind man in front of him, he isn't expecting a thoughtfully custom made bouquet, and he isn't expecting how he's instantly looking for an excuse to go back.All expectation aside- something is about to change.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Series: Forget Me Not's [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1951786
Comments: 38
Kudos: 192





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! This is an AU where I manipulate the timeline however I want, whoops.  
> Here's the deal, Steve's timeline is basically the same, except that his childhood best friend that he chased into war, rescued, and lost, was called James O'Connor. And Bucky is a war vet who Steve meets a few years after coming out of the ice. The way I see it, "James" is more like the pre-war Bucky of canon, and Bucky is post-war Bucky. Steve is drawn to him because Bucky reminds him of James, but also, Steve being Steve, he catches feelings way too quick.  
> Oh, it's also an omegaverse. Just to throw a twist in there. And the lowest-key flowershop AU ever. This is going to be a long one, I have *plans* so buckle in, alright? Feel free to send me feedback, or ask me anything, especially if something isn't clear, okay?  
> Rating is M because things, eventually, are going to get pretty dark, and there's some sexual implications and stuff, but I'm not really about that explicit life (for now, who knows). I'll change the rating if I need to, but yeah. Enjoy!?

It always takes Bucky a minute to maneuver around the back room/greenhouse so that he can get to the front of the shop to greet the customer who's presence is announced with a chime of the bell above the front door.

"Hey! What can I help you find today?"

The blond who turns to face him is a brick wall of sad. He's gorgeous; tall, muscles everywhere, sharp features, but his eyes are devastating. They're blue skies, sharp and clear like the middle of summer, and the expression in them is a kind of lost that Bucky sees a little bit too much in the two months he's been running the shop. As he gets closer he gets hit with the strong steady scent of Alpha, though he can’t say that he’s surprised just based on the shape of this guy. Not that he should be one to judge anyway.

"Um, I'm not really sure, to be honest." The other man rubs the back of his neck almost sheepishly.

"Well, that's good actually!" Bucky keeps his voice soft, easy and light, this guy doesn't seem like he'd want false cheer right now anyway.

"It is?"

"Yeah, that means I can make you a killer recommendation and a custom bouquet to suit you instead of one of these standard ones."

The blonde's gaze drifted back to the flowers lining the wall in nice standardized rows, "That would be... really nice, actually."

"Can you tell me what you need the flowers for, so I can make the bouquet for you?"

"Oh, yeah," His blue eyes go back to being sad and unfocused for a second before snapping back to Bucky, present now but still sad. "I'm going to visit my mom's grave today."

Bucky nods, he'd suspected something like that, and he knows from very personal experience that an empty apology doesn't help, so he reaches his hand over and squeezes the strangers shoulder. The other seems surprised, but after a second, just let's out a shuttering breath.

"I think I've got just the thing." Bucky applies some pressure to the other's shoulder to pull him along before letting go completely as he heads back to the greenhouse. "Come on back, I'll show you what I'm thinking."

To his credit, the large man hesitates for only a second on the threshold to the back of the shop, which is enough time for Bucky to set out a vase and start with the greens. "What do you think, between these two?" He gestured quickly and the other man finally had to step into the greenhouse.

"I, uh..." Blue eyes flicked back and forth between the leaves in Bucky's hand to the ones on the wall, Bucky was expecting to have him say that they were the same, but after a moment the stranger nods decisively. "These ones," he points to the ones on the wall. It's the exact decision Bucky would have made and he smiles.

"Good, here, can you hold these for a second?" He hands the rejected pile to the stranger before reaching out to grab the sprigs he needs, then turning to take the other back and put them away. Normally, he'd maneuver it all himself- he's gotten pretty good at it these days- but the stranger looks like he could probably use a little bit of distraction, so Bucky draws attention to himself in a way he normally would never. Realization flashes across the stranger's face as his gaze flickers to his left side. The prosthetic is covered but simply hangs by his side so it's pretty obvious that it's not real. Bucky is simply charmed by the way that the stranger doesn't gasp or ask or reach out for him, he simply meets Bucky's eyes and nods that same decisive nod.

"What were your mom's favorite colors?" He asks gently.

"Oh. I don't know. I was, uh... colorblind when I was younger. I think she liked blue though, she told me that my eyes were her favorite. And I think she told me her favorite sweater was pink? But it was light, you know, not like a bright pink?"

"Okay, we can definitely work with that." Bucky bustled about, quickly snatching up the sprigs he needs, keeping the colors and textures light and soft, nothing demanding. The stranger follows him around, holding or clipping things as Bucky asks him to, but never if Bucky doesn't ask. The first time Becca suggested him working here, he'd nearly had an angry-meltdown because _that's a two handed job, Becks!_ But he'd tried it for her because of her stupid sad-puppy eyes that never failed to work on him. It took a long time and many meltdowns to learn how he could create his own rhythm in this place, he might be missing an arm but the flowers were nothing if not patient, and Bucky had created his own ways to do many things. So he appreciated the customer's help, but also the way that the man respected his space and his rhythm and didn't jump in and help when Bucky didn't ask for it, it showed an odd amount of respect and none of the posturing that alphas were naturally prone to.

Once they have collected all the pieces Bucky lays them out on the table, carefully cutting them to the lengths he wants, arranging them carefully, the whites and pinks weaved throughout before he goes back to the garden and pulls out a collection of light blue and brings them back.

"These are the most important part." Bucky tells him seriously as he holds them out so the stranger can inspect them.

"What are they?"

"Forget-Me-Not's."

The other man sucks in a breath that he releases slowly. His lips quirk up into a smile even as tears build in his eyes.

"They're perfect. Thank you." He lets his fingers drift over them and looks up at Bucky with his blue eyes shining, and yep, they're the exact same shade of blue. Once Bucky has arranged them just so, he slips the pre-tied ribbon from around the vase to the flowers, the slipknot tightening them with a practiced ease, one of his most important one hand cheats. It only takes him a minute to fold and tape the paper around them. When Bucky hands them over, the other man cradles them carefully against his solid chest.

"These are really perfect. Thank you so much..."

He pauses deliberately, waiting for a name to fill in the space.

"Bucky." He surprises himself in saying his nickname, usually he introduces himself as James at first but it didn't feel right with this guy. Bucky stretches his hand out for the introduction.

"Bucky." The other repeated quietly, and returns the handshake, but doesn't offer his name.

"... and you are...?" Bucky prompts and the question seems to startle him.

"Oh." A beat of silence, "Oh! I'm Steve!" He quickly fills in, for some reason he seems delighted to be able to introduce himself and it makes Bucky smile. The smile he gets in return is full, and unreserved, and make his eyes crinkle, and could probably power the entire sun. Bucky's only response is to give his hand a little squeeze before letting go.

"Well, it is very nice to meet you Steve."

"Yeah, you too! It was nice to see how you made the bouquet and everything too."

"If you ever need flowers again, stop by, I'll let you carry the flowers for me again while I'm making it and everything." Then he winked. He wasn't quite sure why, but he did, and Steve's cheeks turned a little pink, his smile didn't falter as he nodded quickly.

"I'd like that." The alpha quickly retreated away a few steps, smile still on his face, "Well, I should get going."

"Alright. I'll see you around, Steve."

"Yeah, see you, Bucky!"

The door gave a happy little chime and he was gone.

"Huh." Bucky shrugged, and if the encounter left him bemused and smiling for the rest of the day, well, Becca was on maternity leave so the flowers didn't have anyone to tell.

-

"Hello, what can I- oh." The customer turned around with a smile that nearly knocked Bucky on his ass. God, this guy should come with a warning label.

"Hey Bucky!"

"Hey, Steve, what's up?" He greeted casually. Casually was good. Casually was casual. He didn't wheeze or put his hand over his heart or anything. He just cocked his hip to rest his hand on it. Casual. His first encounter with Steve had been about a week ago, and he honestly wasn't expecting to see the other man back, at least not so soon.

"I was hoping you could make me another bouquet?" Steve's voice was nice, and the purposeful conversation snapped Bucky back into real life.

"Of course, that is my job after all!" He smiled easily. There was no of the sadness in those eyes this week so, "What's the occasion?"

Steve rolled his eyes. "I have a friend who got hurt at work. He's okay, but in the hospital. And apparently no one can visit him without bringing flowers because," he puts his hands up in air-quotes, "I'm injured and sad and need to have my flower deficiency met in these pressing times, God, Steve, you should know better than to arrive empty handed at my time of need." He rolled his eyes again as he lowered his hands. Bucky burst out laughing, throwing his head back and taking a minute to catch his breath.

"He said that?" He laughed again, more subdued. "That's ridiculous and hilarious."

"Well, Clint certainly is ridiculous." Steve agreed seriously.

Still chuckling, Bucky waved for Steve to follow him.

"Can't say I'm upset about it though. Since it brought you back after all." Oh, hell, way to play it cool, Barnes. "Good for business and all that." He tried to play it off, but Steve's chuckle behind him made him think he wasn't entirely successful. "What am I working with here?"

"Who knows? Clint is an asshole. But his favorite color is purple?"

"Yeah, I can definitely work with that." Bucky took his time to get set up and start clipping and collecting the pieces he needed. Last time Steve had been here the silence had been comfortable, but now it felt wrong. It was a little awkward, and a little expectant, like each of them was waiting for something. Finally Bucky cleared his throat to grab whatever subject he first thought of.

"So, are yo-" The door chime happily interrupted. "Ah, is it okay if I check on this really quick before I finish you flowers?"

"Yeah, I'm not in a hurry."

"Alright, I'll be right back, just hang tight."

Bucky hurried to the front.

"Welcome to Becca's Blossoms, how can I help?" The first customer grabbed a pre-made bouquet and a second customer came in and did the same, they were quick and easy check outs, the usual for a Saturday like this one. After packaging up the flowers and checking them out they were on their way quick as they came.

"Busy today?" Steve asked as he reentered the back. Out of reflex Bucky breathed in to scent the air but stopped himself at the first hint of alpha in the air. Steve had been there long enough that the air in the enclosed space was starting to smell like him. Bucky made a small, and not creepy, note to scent the air later to catch what his unique smell was, but it wasn't polite to do so without permission so he put the thought from his mind.

"Yeah, it's pretty normal, since it's a Saturday and everything." He quickly set out to choose out the hydrangeas he wanted.

"Oh yeah?" Steve asked like he didn't know.

"What, are Saturday's not traditional date nights where you're from?"

Steve huffed out a laugh, "Well, I'm from Brooklyn, so I'm pretty sure it's the same."

"Really? I'm from Brooklyn too!"

"Really!? That's-"

The doorbell chimes again.

Bucky serves three more customers before he can finish with Steve's flowers. They chat a little in between customers but it doesn't take too long to get Steve's asshole friend set up with something garishly purple. After he's paid, he stands at the counter watching Bucky for nearly a full minute in silence which Bucky is reluctant to break.

"You need something else, Steve?"

Steve doesn't break his gaze. "Yeah." But he still pauses to take a deep breath. "Two things actually. Because I would really like to get your phone number." Bucky's heart leapt into his throat, "And since I've just been informed that Saturday is date night around here, would you let me buy you a coffee later? There's this nice little local place only a few blocks from here... but of course, if you don't want... I just thought..."

This man. This gorgeous man who was built like a commander in the army but got all red-faced and stumbled over his words, and complained about his friends, and carried the flowers close to his chest like he could keep them safe. Normally Bucky might hesitate since he barely knew this guy, and there were a lot of creeps trying to get in with a male omega, rare as they were, even one that looks like Bucky. But Steve shouldn't know that- Bucky was on military-grade suppressants and spent all day in a flower shop, his scent should be the same as the room around them, and certainly his build wasn't giving him away. And this was Steve. Sometimes these things were worth the risk.

"Steve, I'd love that. Give me your phone, I'll give you my number."

"Yeah?" Timid but hopeful, and the cutest thing Bucky had ever seen.

"I also finish closing the shop at 7, so you could meet me here then?"

"That would be perfect." He quickly fished out his phone for Bucky to put in his number. Bucky didn't recognize the model but it looked sleek and brand new, and Bucky would have cared or been excited about it before, but he'd stopped caring about things like this a long time ago.

Steve got his number, called Bucky quickly so Bucky had his number and then practically bounded from the shop, his grin expanded across his whole face.

As the door closed behind him Bucky allowed himself a little indulgence, even though it wasn't really polite, he opened his mouth and breathed through his nose to properly scent the air.

The scent of happy Alpha settled on his tongue like a weight. Steve had a scent of rain-covered-city, of something strange and metallic like paint but not quite, and hint of tart green apples. Okay, so that was good, he liked it. Bucky quickly closed his mouth a went to work cleaning the greenhouse from the carnage of making Steve's bouquet, and tried to push thoughts of the alpha from his mind.

The shop officially closed at six, but a rumpled business man hurried in at the last minute, then was an asshole about demanding something grandiose and then complained about the price. By the time he was out, seriously, fuck entitled alpha assholes like that, Bucky was pissed off and 15 minutes late closing. Becca had said it would take only about 20 minutes closing, but Bucky only had one arm to work with, so it always took him an hour to put away the a-frame signs, gather the display bouquets, make sure everything had enough water, and sweep- seriously, sweeping with one hand sucked, even though Bucky could hook it in to a clip on his prosthetic to keep it steady. He closed out the til, made sure everything was straightened and easy for him to deal with in the morning.

Steve arrived exactly one minute before 7 and stood outside the shutter for ten minutes while Bucky finished, then another five while Bucky went to the back room, changed his apron and dirt covered shirt for a black button down before putting his hoodie back on without zipping it, he exchanged his gardening gloves for leather, and tugged his fingers quick through his hair gel and running his hand through his hair a few times, applying deodorant, and calling it good.

He turned off the lights and went out the back door before circling around to the front where Steve was still waiting.

"Hey, sorry to make you wait."

Steve, who had been staring fairly intensely at the now-darkened interior of the shop, startled and turned to Bucky with that same sun-powering grin.

"Hey, Bucky! You ready?"

Bucky made a show of patting his pockets for his keys, phone and wallet, then flashed a smile.

"Yep, you all good, pal?"

"Yeah!" Steve quickly gestured and they set off down the road. The weather was nice, the sun still giving it's best effort to light the way as they went.

"Did your friend like the flowers?"

Steve rolled his eyes. "You have no idea. I swear, his hospital room has almost as many flowers as your shop, it's ridiculous. But he did let me in to check on him, so that's good."

"He's doing alright?"

"Yeah, just a concussion, few bruised ribs and a sprained wrist, he's in pretty good shape considering a building practically fell on him."

Bucky winced sympathetically. "That's rough. Good that he's doing alright though."

"Yeah, how are you? How was the rest of your day?"

"Wasn't bad. Business was good for date flowers, must be the time of year. Only had one incident where some asshole came charging in last minute and then complained about everything and got stressed/angry alpha smell all over my flowers."

Steve tensed up at that. "Does that... happen a lot?"

"You mean the smell thing, or the general jerk thing?"

"Both, I guess."

"Hmm..." Bucky thought about it, as Steve veered down a side street, "yeah, I guess so. People can be pretty particular about what they want with these things. Part of the job is dealing with people who are stressed because they're late, or their partner is mad and they're apologizing, or things like that."

Steve had a crease in his forehead that looked like he didn't think it should be part of the job. He stopped in front of a little shop that boldly proclaimed itself to be "The No Sleep Club".

"It shouldn't be part of the job. Not for anyone. People should be able to not take their stress out on people who are trying to help them." There was so much conviction in Steve's words that Bucky nodded as Steve moved to open the door for him.

"Maybe that's true. But that's how people are. People are selfish and most of the time they only care about the one goal that they're heading towards, no matter who gets in their way." Steve seemed like that kind of guy, and by the way he pulled up his shoulders a bit, he knew it. "This is a nice place." Bucky commented, and it really was. There were wood paneled walls, and one wall with exposed red and white brick, bookshelves were scattered around the rooms holding books and plants and clocks and globes and a few hats for no apparent reason. There was a pocket watch hanging from the shelf just left of the counter. The seats didn't seem to match each other at all, neither did the tables, and there was a piano in the back that definitely didn't work, but looked like it had been turned into a planter for ivy growing out all along the top edge.

"Its eccentric." Steve said in a way that was wholeheartedly fond. He made his way to a corner near the back, and the soldier in Bucky noticed the choice, good sightlines, clear exits, a nice little sniper's nest. Bucky took in all this information and catalogued the few people in the room. A couple customers and a little old lady who bustled over wearing an apron. Steve positively beamed at her.

"Hey, Mrs. O'Conner. How are you?"

"Steve! It's been a while! How was your trip?"

"Oh, you know, the usual, work is always busy. Never gives me a chance to enjoy the places I go."

"And it's a crying shame too. It's good to have you back."

"Thank you. Mrs. O'Conner, this is Bucky. Bucky-"

"Shawna, please. Only this old-fashioned brute calls me that."

Bucky smiled easily as he took her hand, the exchange had been nothing but endearing, "Shawna then. It's a pleasure to meet you, Ma'am."

"Look at you boys and your manners, you'll make an old lady get all faint. What can I get you today?"

Steve gestured at Bucky to go first.

"Can I get a decaf latte with honey?" When Steve raised an eyebrow he defended himself easily, "What? It's good!"

Steve chuckled, "Alright, you know what? Me too. And... crepes or waffles?"

"Oh, hmm... whatever you recommend."

"I'll have the fresh fruit waffles, and Bucky will have the Nutella crepes?" Steve's Alpha confidence suddenly deflated and he turned to Bucky sheepishly, "If that's okay?"

Bucky couldn't stop the smile on his face if he tried. "Yeah, Steve, that sounds great."

Shawna bustled off to get the orders in and Bucky turned his attention back to Steve.

"Seems like you must come here often."

"Yeah," Steve looked a little pleased, a little fond, "The O'Connor's are the closest thing I have to family, so I try to come around as often as I can."

"It's good to have family." Bucky agrees and Steve nods his agreement just as Shawna swoops back in with their lattes before bustling away again. For an old lady, she bustles a lot, it makes Bucky smile.

Steve sniffed his latte obnoxiously to indicate he wasn't sure about it, but his dubious expression melted away after a single sip. "Okay, yeah. That's really nice."

"Told you so." Bucky gave a happy hum as he sipped on his own.

"Flavored lattes usually taste so... fake. Like you can taste the artificial part, you know?" Bucky nodded and Steve took another sip. "This is sweet.... but it tastes real. I like that a lot."

Bucky tried not to preen under the praise, but he felt the same way so he nodded before pasting on a face that was too neutral to not be curious. "So Steve, what do you do?"

"Oh, uh, I..." Steve's cheeks were a little pink, and he glanced around the room before sheepishly admitting, "I work for the government."

"Oh yeah?" Bucky tried to picture him in a boring desk job, but that didn't sound right.

"Yeah, I used to be in the military." That made more sense, so Bucky hummed but didn't interject with his own tales on that one. "And now I do something similar, but it's not the same. It's protecting people but the war is different even if it's not over. There's always a bully to fight one way or another, so I'll always be there in the middle of that fight."

"You're a strange guy, Stevie." Bucky mused, and got the pleasure of seeing that pale skin light up like a wildfire at the nickname. Oh, Bucky would absolutely be using that again.

"What about you?" Steve asked politely, but they waited until Shawna had finished putting their plates down before Bucky answered.

"Right now I'm at the flower shop most of the time. It's my sister's, but she's on maternity leave at the moment. They just had their first, my new nephew, about a month ago. You want to see pictures?"

After Steve had done an appropriate amount of cooing at the phone photos, Bucky picked up his fork instead and continued his explanation. "My main job is actually part time editing for this publishing house. It's a good job and I can mostly do it from home. But it was the flower shop that really helped me get back on my feet after I came back from the military."

"Did that-?" They both spared a glance down at his prosthetic. Bucky raised an eyebrow and Steve had the social awareness to look mortified that he'd asked that. "I'm so sorry! You don't have to- I didn't mean to- it's insensitive, so I-" Bucky quickly rescued him from himself by shrugging and giving a sly smile.

"I'd tell you about it, but that's not really a first date kind of topic."

Steve recovered quickly from his mess of an apology and he jerked a little, his eyes danced at the implication that there would be more dates. Seriously, this alpha couldn't get more obvious if he tried, and Bucky was such a sucker for it, it was almost painful.

"So, a second date then?" Steve asked, straightforward and hopeful.

"Hmm..." Bucky reached over with his fork and snagged a strawberry from Steve's plate, damn that was nice, "Honestly, its really more like a forth or maybe a third date topic. Depending on how amazing the second date is, I guess." He made himself shrug again, but he met Steve's eyes dead on. It was a challenge, and Steve straightened up, a crooked grin settling on his face as he obviously accepted that challenge.

"Well, good thing I have the rest of this date to figure out what the perfect second date would be."

"Yeah, good thing." Bucky smiled back and put another forkful of crepe in his mouth.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enter stage left- SAM<3 (I love him)  
> Also-More dates!  
> ALso- Some conflict!  
> ALSo- Some of Bucky's background!   
> ALSO- Did I mention MORE DATES?!!  
> Anyway, this is still just warming up, and this ended up being longer than I thought that it would be, but, yeah, enjoy!

"Alright, what's gotten in to you?"

Steve finished downing his water bottle before he looked back at Sam who was flushed and chest was still heaving from their run.

"What do you mean?" Steve asked, even though he could feel the smile forming on his face already.

"Dude. You ran like, twice as much as normal, your face looks like that," He gestures to the over-wide smile on Steve's face, "and your pleased alpha scent is getting all over the city." Steve cringed a little at that.

"I'm sorry, I don-"

"Yeah, yeah, serum and scent blockers don't mix, blah blah," Sam waved his hand then turned back his curious look, "But why?"

To Steve's mortification, his cheeks start heating up, he can feel the redness spreading, and clears his throat a little.

"Holy shit!"

"What?" Steve instinctively looks around them to make sure there's nothing alarming going on, but when he looks back, Sam is pointing directly at him and his eyes are wide. "What!?"

"You met someone!" Sam accuses loudly, and Steve looks around again to make sure that no one is nearby, but the park is always clear this time of day, that's why they run now.

"I-!" Steve goes to protest, but there's nothing to protest because Sam is right, "Well, yeah, I did."

"Holy shit!" Sam practically screams as he grabs Steve's arm and shakes it. "Who are they? When did you meet them? Tell me everything!" But as soon as Steve opens his mouth Sam smacks him, "No, wait! We need coffee! And brunch! Then, you'll tell me everything!"

Sam practically sprinted to their usual post-run hang, a diner that opened at 6am everyday no matter what, had friendly staff and cheerful decor, and Sam said it was old-fashioned, but Steve thought it looked just as foreign as everything else in the world had in the last few years, but it was a good compromise for them.

Once the table was heavily adorned with piles of waffles and eggs and bacon and coffee Sam turns his complete focused attention to Steve.

"Okay. Tell me everything."

Steve takes a deep breath but he can already feel the smile spreading on his face. "His name is Bucky, I met him getting flowers for my mom, it's his sisters shop, but he's been taking care of the place so she can have maternity leave. He grew up in Brooklyn, and was in the military, and he asked for my name! He asked for my name, Sam!"

Sam raised his eyebrow, "He doesn't know who you are?"

"I don't think so."

"Huh." Sam chewed his pancakes almost thoughtfully and Steve frowned at him.

"What?"

"Just wondering if that's a good move."

"Sam, we've been on one date. And I just... I just want to be Steve Rogers for a while."

"Alright, Steve. But this is something you should tell him sooner rather than later if you want a real relationship with this guy." Steve nodded slowly as he speared some waffle onto his fork, and Sam looked over with a wicked smile, "Okay, tell me more. How attractive is this guy?"

"Oh, you have no idea."

-

Let's just say the second date was really amazing.

Steve showed up right on time, Bucky knows because Bucky arrived a few minutes before him so he'd taken an extra long loop of the block while he waited and had seen Steve walk up, the Alpha practically radiating pleased and nervous excitement as he bounced up to the corner they'd agreed to meet at. Bucky gave himself an extra minute to take in his appearance- his nice but still casual clothes, his hands each full- one of a bouquet of flowers, and the other an old school wicker basket. He had dark-blonde stubble along his jawline that he hadn't had last time and a baseball cap over his head but nothing hid that this was indeed Steve who was rocking gently on his feet and looking around without even pausing to check his phone or anything. Bucky continued to walk forward and it didn't take Steve long to see him, his face lighting up as he spotted Bucky. It was almost too much, too good, too wholesome, for Bucky's poor heart. Almost.

Bucky feels his own face light up in a smile as he gives a dorky wave that Steve tries to return with his hand on flowers.

"Hey, Bucky!" Steve calls as soon as Bucky is close enough with an enthusiasm that Bucky can't help but feel himself reciprocating.

"Hey! Whatcha got there?"

Steve's grin widens and he pushes the flowers out to Bucky. "These are for you!"

When Bucky takes them he notices something, "They're... origami?"

Steve's face turns red. "Yeah, I, uh... Flowers wilt in weather like this, but I still wanted to bring you some, so I looked up how to..." He trails off as Bucky whips his head up to him.

"You made these?"

"Yeah, I, uh..." Steve's face was officially fire engine red now, which was maybe the cutest thing that Bucky had ever seen.

"Steve," Bucky starts seriously, before he leans up on his toes and presses a kiss to Steve's cheek, "This is the sweetest thing I've ever seen. Thank you."

Steve grins like he's just won the lottery and makes a show of offering his elbow to Bucky to lead him into the park. Bucky has a weird moment where he feels like someone could take a picture of them, put in the dictionary next to traditional courting. Then he has an even weirder moment where he doesn't even care.

The sun is warm on their backs, and the conversation is easy as Steve asks about his work day and more about Bucky's sister's family and other little things to get to know each other.

Eventually they settle in a spot under a big oak tree, thick grass underneath the plaid picnic blanket that Steve lays down with a flourish that makes Bucky smile. Everything about the way that Steve asks says 'I'm trying to impress you, but I'm still going to be myself.' It's perfect. Bucky is more than sick of alphas that think that they have something to prove around him, but maybe it's because Bucky doesn't look much like an omega, takes far to many suppressants to let his smell out. Maybe Steve would take more time posturing if he knew that Bucky was an omega, but somehow Bucky doubts it. There's something about Steve that very much makes Bucky want to believe him. He only hopes that he can trust in that. He wants to.

Near the end of the night, as Steve walks Bucky back to his apartment there's a moment where Steve started turning away a little bit like he was shy. And that's when Bucky remembered that the universe liked to fuck him over. The universe had liked to fuck him over since he turned ten and presented years early, and everyone had been shocked because he didn't act or look like an omega. People had whispered "well, I guess he's done growing." except that the universe was up to it's usual shit and he grew into a body that belonged to an alpha, and people would approach him, take a whiff of his scent and turn up their noses in disgust until he upped and upped the dosages of suppressants and scent blockers to dangerous levels. The universe didn't give Bucky nice things, it gave him a family in the army that he had to watch be torn apart, and it gave him a strong body to defend himself and those he loved with, and then it left him half-human, with scars that no one could see, and air where his arm should be that no one could not see. Bucky had one good thing in his life and that was Becca, and he distanced himself from her as much as either of them would allow, because God knows, he couldn't let the universe get to her. He was doing alright, but alright wasn't perfect, and that's what Steve was. Steve was 250lbs of perfection- he was dorky, and awkward, and so respectful it was old-fashioned, he was clever and learned Bucky's humour as easy as breathing. Steve trusted too easily, wore his heart on his sleeve, believed in protecting people, and bought stranger's kids new ice cream cones when they dropped theirs- with their parents permission of course, and he got _shy_ when it was the end of their second date. Steve was perfect, and suddenly Bucky was drowning in it, because the universe didn't give Bucky _nice_ , it would never let him have _perfection_ , it would never let him have _Steve_ , and that was a truth that was running through Bucky's veins like blood. Steve was perfect, and Bucky would never deserve him.

But still, Bucky wanted. He wanted to at least give this a chance, at least see this through, at least let himself hope. So, when Steve ducked his head and put his hands deep in his pockets shyly, Bucky couldn't help but quickly dip forward to press a quick kiss to Steve's cheek, then he bit his lips and took a step back.

Steve stared at him, surprised, his eyes wide, his mouth hanging open slightly before a smile started creeping onto his face.

"I'll see you soon?" Bucky offered tentatively and Steve lit up at the question.

"Yes! I'd love that! I'll text you?"

"Sure, Steve, I'd like that." Bucky admitted and then Steve stepped back with a wave, his whole face practically glowing in the late evening sunshine.

Bucky gave a little wave and then turned into his building, struggling for half a second to unlock the door while still holding onto his paper flowers. Steve was still smiling up at him when he got the door open and turned around to smile at Steve one last time before heading back inside.

When Bucky got into his apartment he found a vase to put the paper flowers in, smiling at the silly things- some of them were crumpled, but Steve had taken the time to make them for him, it was a pretty big thing. They were paper, but Bucky still felt the urge to duck his head down and smell the flowers, there was only a faintest scent of Steve and Bucky found himself smiling. It had been a really great date.

-

Date three wasn't looking like it would be quite as good.

Steve had planned to take him out to the park again, but it rained. The whole day it poured drenching sheets from the sky. In the afternoon a group of teenagers, recently presented alphas came in to the shop, they came in knowing exactly who Bucky was, they came for a fight. One of them slapped down a phone where a familiar video was playing, and they started throwing slurs that they shouldn't even know. They were just kids, and he couldn't fight kids, though he had to remind himself of that several times. They fucked up a bunch of the front display flowers, and he'd had to call the cops, and then the cops made him go down to the station to give his statement, and he hated the station, and everyone there stared at him too. By the time he was out of there, he was an hour late for their date, and the sky was upending buckets of water into the street. Steve, ever patient, apparently, had accepted his text that there was a situation at work, and instead of cancelling or suggesting tomorrow like a reasonable human he'd said, " _No worries, I'll just put the food in the oven so it keeps warm. Text me when you're on your way?"_

So Bucky was furious. He was furious at stupid alpha teenagers, and the military brass and the OPA for making his face the face of Omega's belittlement, and at beta parents who said shit like "boys will be boys" even though they'd paid for the damage, he was mad at Steve for not taking a hint and keeping the damn food warm and making Bucky feel like it would be wasteful to tuck into the comfort of his crappy one person nest at home. So he was furious at the whole damned universe when he arrived at Steve's apartment freezing, wet, and spitting mad. To Steve's credit, he'd just smiled and brought Bucky inside.

Steve was a whirlwind of providing alpha, getting Bucky dry clothes, and setting the food out while he changed, and triple checking that he didn't need anything. The omega instinct in Bucky wanted to curl up in the care and warmth and alpha that Steve's arms offered, but if there was any day where he didn't want to be an omega it was on a day like this- when he'd already been abused and taunted and belittled for what he was, for who specifically he was and all the shit he'd gone through. So he took the offered kindness, and nothing more.

"So," Steve asked, pretending nonchalance, as he finally sat down across the table from Bucky. "You want to talk about the incident that happened today?" Bucky felt every muscle in his body tense, and Steve noticed but didn't back off, "Or why every part of your body language is screaming 'Don't touch me!'?"

Bucky met the challenge straight on, staring it in the face and flipping it a metaphorical middle finger.

"What if I don't want to talk about it?"

"Then we won't talk about it." Like it was simple. Nothing in Bucky's life was simple, except maybe this. Bucky liked Steve and Steve liked Bucky, and the only thing complicated about that were the things that they hadn't shared with each other yet. Steve made Bucky want for it to be simple. Maybe they could really just be two guys on a date.

"It's a long story," Bucky paused but Steve nodded, he didn't interrupt or accept that as a dismissal, and that's why Bucky continued, "Some kids... probably barely presented, came in to the shop. They were looking for a fight. Messed up the displays and threw a bunch of bouquets..." Bucky took a deep breath to steady himself, and Steve gently knocked their ankles together under the table, "God, I'm going to have to go in early tomorrow to pick up the damage. I called the cops, and they asked me to make my statement at the station, and then I had to wait for the parents to show up and pay for the damages and..." he sighed. "Was a shitty day." He was still angry, and he speared his chicken breast with his fork with more force than necessary. Out of his periphery, Bucky saw Steve nod.

"Was there a reason they came in to your shop?"

"I think they," he paused to consider his words, "I think they saw my arm." It wasn't a lie, most people didn't recognize him until they saw the prosthetic, and that connected it for them to the guy with one arm in the courthouse.

"That's shitty." Steve looked genuinely very angry. "That's so shitty!"

Bucky found himself smiling at Steve's anger. "Yeah, it is!"

"What did their parents say?"

""Boys will be boys"."

"No! No! That's not true! Only shitty parents make shitty kids."

"I know, like- raise your kids better and we wouldn't be here?"

"Especially if they were recently presented alphas. They need to be raised to be good people and not abuse their status! What the heck!?"

Bucky laughed again. Steve was red in the face and he looked so offended on behalf of alphas every where. The tension and the anger from earlier drained out of him. Steve had righteous fury at people abusing their designations, and that filled Bucky with warmth.

He snaked his feet out to snag one of Steve's ankles and dragged it closer under the table, holding it with his own feet. Steve's face melted into one of warmth and affection. It was a nice look on him and Bucky couldn't help but return it. They turned their attention to the meal in front of them and ate in relative silence for a while. Bucky kept stealing glances up at Steve, carefully considering if he wanted to bite this bullet today. He cared about Steve, kinda wanted to be serious about him. There were things Steve didn't know about Bucky, probably vice versa too, but he had never been anything except for supportive and respectful and so, so sweet. It was maybe the first time ever he'd wanted to be this honest with someone this fast in a relationship. Might as well see if he could trust Steve as much as he wanted to.

"Do you know my designation?" To Steve's credit, he didn't even seem surprised at the sudden serious conversation, he just gave Bucky his full attention.

"No, I... at first I thought beta, but you only smell like the flower shop, so... scent blockers?" Bucky nodded. "And betas don't normally use them, but I can't tell. You could be any designation. It doesn't matter to me."

"When you first asked me out though, was there something you hoped- or something you thought I was?"

"Yeah. I thought you were stunning." Bucky's cheeks suddenly felt warm and Steve gave him a soft smile that lit up his whole face. "You're attentive and you treat customers well no matter who they are or what they need. You're stubborn and charming and whip-smart. And I've never seen someone as beautiful as you." The fight sort of left Bucky after that. He pressed their ankles together tighter under the table and sipped the wine, considering that.

"So, past relationships? Any designation you lean towards?"

"It won't change anything." Steve said decisively, and to his credit, he just seemed sure of himself, he didn't even hesitate at the direction that this conversation was going.

Bucky snapped his wrist dismissively. "I know. So?"

"There was this girl. When I was... when I was in the military, this girl was clever and so sharp and could punch a guy in the face without wrinkling her uniform. I remember just thinking- damn. What a woman. She was an alpha. It's stigmatized maybe, but I loved her for as long as I knew her. We never got to give it a good go of it. There was a plane crash..." Steve's eyes grew a little distant before he suddenly shook his head and continued, "Anyway. I've never really cared about gender or designation. There's been a handful of people I've found attractive over the years. A guy I grew up with that was in my unit, my task force, he was a beta. We were yes and no together. We did love each other but... yeah. The timing wasn't good and war is a hell of a thing, and he never got to come home from the war. I've seen a few people since then, nothing too serious, just comfortable and casual. So it's never mattered to me _what_ someone was. Just _who_ that someone is."

"I'm an omega." Steve just nodded, he didn't suddenly look at him with lust or curiosity, he just accepted it as fact. "Male Omega's are rare enough that I get a lot of creeps coming on to me to sate their curiosity. So I use scent blockers and I've never really dated much." Bucky kept looking at Steve and Steve looked right back, nodding again seriously. "I like you, Steve, enough that I'm trusting you by telling you this."

"It doesn't matter." Steve said fiercely but Bucky shook his head.

"It doesn't. And it does. It's important, even if it doesn't change anything between us."

"Of course it is. I didn't mean to imply that. But no, it doesn't change anything for me."

Bucky released a sigh, letting the tension out of his muscles. "So, please tell me that you don't have a hard rule about not eating dessert in front of that TV I saw in the living room earlier."

Steve laughed, "We can do that."

"And please tell me you have some classic Disney movies here somewhere."

At the end of Mulan Steve looked at Bucky thoughtfully.

"You know, as an artist, I've been wanting to branch out, try some different arts."

"Okay?" Bucky asked, because that came out of left field.

"Like, flower arranging, for example." Okay, now he knew where this was going, and fought not to smile.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. And I mean, you said you have to go in early tomorrow anyway, right?" Bucky groaned a little but nodded. Steve reached over, laced their fingers together and pressed a kiss to Bucky's fingers before peering over them at him. "So, could I tag along? I can help out a little, you can show me your ways with flowers?"

"I see what you're doing, you know."

Steve chuckled and pressed another kiss to Bucky's hand. "I suppose I'm not exactly being very subtle."

"You could just ask me to spend the night, you know." Steve head shot up at that, he looked surprised, but also a little lost, his cheeks lit up bright, bright red, and oh, Bucky loved how that looked on him.

"I.. uh... what?"

Bucky couldn't help the laugh that spread out from his chest. He pulled on their joined hands so he could kiss Steve's knuckles in return.

"The shop opens at 9, but with everything that needs to be taken care of today, I think I'll have to be there at like-6? 7, if you really do want to come help."

"I do." Steve gave one of his firm/decisive nods.

"It's already late..." Bucky prompted and Steve's blush deepened down past the neckline of his shirt.

"You, uh, you could... stay?"

"Yeah, I could." He put their hands down between them but kept their fingers laced together. "But I'm not going to pressure you. I can take the couch, or I can go home and meet you there."

Steve took a long moment to steady himself, it seemed, then he opened his eyes. The look in his eyes was calm, steady, no false bravado or even nervousness in them.

"Hey, Buck?"

"Yeah, Stevie?" Steve's lips twitched upwards at that.

"You wanna stay here tonight? And tomorrow we'll go down to the flower shop?"

"Yeah, Steve. I'd love that. Can we finish watching this movie, then you loan me some pajamas and stuff?"

"Sounds perfect." Steve said, his eyes sparkling. Their hands were still joined between them, and they'd moved closer to each other over their conversation. Steve was so close to him now. His eyes darted down to Bucky's lips and Bucky licked them on instinct, Steve's eyes tracking the motion. Slowly, Steve's other hand appeared in Bucky's peripherals, slowly reaching out until it cupped Bucky's jaw. His fingers touched just behind Bucky's ear, his thumb coming up to brush along his cheekbone. Bucky let himself be pulled closer until all he could see were Steve's baby blues filling up his whole vision.

"Buck," Steve breathed out the word, his voice rough and quiet, and Bucky didn't whimper even though the breath from Steve's lungs ghosted along his chin. "Can I kiss you?"

"Yeah," Bucky whispered back, just as rough and breathy as Steve.

Steve's lips were gentle, a little tentative as they pressed into Bucky's. They caught a little on his skin as they moved along his, not quite willing to push for more. Bucky felt like the air had been captured from his lungs, held hostage behind Steve's lips, and pulled his fingers free of Steve's to reach up and grip the back of his neck and pull him impossibly closer. Steve gasped and tightened his grip, his other hand sliding in to Bucky's hair, and oh, he liked that. Bucky hummed his approval and pulled back.

Bucky opened his eyes and got the pleasure of watching Steve chase after his lips blindly, and Bucky let him. They kissed again and again, closed mouth and small movements along each others lips. Finally, they pulled back, and Steve pulled him so that their foreheads were together.

Bucky let out a little breathless laugh, and Steve practically purred at the sound.

"I'll go get you some pajamas."

"Sure." Bucky agreed easily and settled back as Steve set out running around and getting him set up to sleep on the couch for the night.

-

Bucky woke up to the sounds nearby, and the disorienting sensation of not knowing where he was. His eyes flew open in alarm, a gasp pressing to his lungs as he brain conjured images of a dark cell, of screaming in a language he didn't understand, of the fever of pain and infection. He forced the panic away and it only took a second for the room to take on a familiar shape. He was in Steve's living room, his face pressed into the scratchy material of the couch. Ugh. It was way too early.

Somewhere behind him he heard Steve moving around in the kitchen, it was obvious he was being slow to try to be quiet as he set out what sounded like a pan and some plates. There was a clatter followed by Steve swearing quietly. Bucky couldn't help but let out a silent chuckle as he pulled himself up to peer over into the kitchen where Steve was crouched on the floor, cleaning something and grumbling swear words to himself.

Bucky felt himself grinning (so early in the morning too) and twisted himself further to watch until Steve finally finished cleaning whatever it was and glanced up to find Bucky half hanging over the couch and grinning at him.

"Hey there."

Steve turned bright red and quickly dumped whatever he was cleaning into the sink, washing his hands and taking long strides to come stand over Bucky who was on the couch.

"Good morning." Steve said, and then he leaned down and kissed him. Bucky smiled into the kiss, using his one hand to pull Steve in a little more. Steve let his hands automatically glide up to Bucky's neck, but froze when his hand hit the space where Bucky's left shoulder should have been. Bucky kissed him again, used to the moment of panic people had when they saw him without his prosthetic for the first time. He ignored the way that Steve's hand sort of hovered over the empty sleeve of his borrowed hoodie and leaned back to press a kiss to Steve's nose for the pleasure of seeing his cheeks turn pink even though Bucky could see the way he was carefully controlling his face and not quite looking at Bucky's shoulder.

Bucky didn't know if Steve's distance was out of respect or out of aversion, so he just nudged Steve towards being normal again. "What were you clattering around for?"

Steve's face instantly crumpled from his carefully contained curiosity to sheepish. "I was... Going to make breakfast?"

Bucky let himself stretch as he followed Steve's gaze over to the kitchen and the pan sticking out of the sink.

"Eggs?" Bucky guessed, and Steve looked even more embarrassed, his cheeks turning red now.

"Yeah. But I dropped the first one."

Bucky let himself laugh quietly as he stretched out his hand so Steve could pull him up off the cushions.

"You have the stuff here for omelettes? I can help."

"Oh, sure."

It turned out that Steve did have all the ingredients, and more, for omelettes, his fridge was completely packed with all manner of fresh food and Bucky was a little stunned at just how much food was in there. Fresh food too. How fast did Steve go through food here on his own? He shook his head and got cooking, making Steve cut up little pieces of peppers and onions and bacon, and handling cracking the eggs on his own after some gentle ribbing in Steve's direction about cracking eggs on the floor. He still hadn't put his prosthetic back on yet, it was still carefully stowed below the coffee table. It was always a little uncomfortable for Bucky to be around people without his arm on, but he'd had it on for a long time yesterday and his neck and shoulders were killing him.

"You okay?" Steve asked as Bucky rubbed at his collarbone for the hundredth time. "Was the couch uncomfortable? I should have-"

"Hey, calm down, big guy." Bucky interrupted him with a smile, bumping his hip against Steve instead of turning his attention away from the absolutely massive omelette he was making. Steve put away food like nothing else Bucky had ever seen, and there was something in him- either his competitive nature or the primal omega instinct in him to provide- that made him want to keep piling food onto Steve's plate until he couldn't eat any more. He put more cheese on the top, just for good measure before he looked up at Steve's face, puckered a little in concern, and he felt his own expression soften. This guy with his bleeding heart for other people. God, Bucky just wanted to curl up with him and not let anything touch him.

Steve lifted a hand so carefully, so slowly, as he reached for the spot that Bucky kept rubbing at, gently laying his hand down and rubbing his thumb along Bucky's collarbone.

"You sure you're okay? You keep rubbing at this spot here?"

Bucky nodded, peaking again at the omelette to make sure it wasn't burning. "It's a sore spot because of the way my prosthetic hangs."

Steve's eyebrows furrowed in concern again. "Your prosthetic hurts you?"

"Let go so I can finish your omelette." Steve did as Bucky asked and soon the omelette was on a plate, absolutely heaping over the sides of it, Bucky noted with satisfaction. Then Steve took both plates over to the table that he'd set out with coffee and orange juice and a little bowl of fresh fruit. It was cute and Bucky smiled at the little feast they had laid out for no reason except for the fact that they were both here.

"So?" Steve asked, as they both sat.

"So, what?"

"Does your prosthetic hurt you?"

"Oh," he'd already forgotten, and he glanced down at the space where his arm should be with a frown before looking back up. "Yeah, it does." Steve's jaw clenched with a look in his eyes that said that he'd do anything it took to fix the problem. He looked so sure, so determined that Bucky couldn't help but snort in amusement at him.

"What?"

"Your face! You look like it's some kind of problem that you can, I don't know, lecture it until it is all fixed." Steve looked down at his food, a little sheepish, and Bucky reached over to pluck Steve's hand up in his and give it a squeeze. "It's not one of those problems." He assured him, "It hurts sometimes, and it's heavy. All prosthetics are like that. Normally it's not so bad, but yesterday was a long day with it on, you know?" He squeezed Steve's hand again and then pulled back so he could start to eat his breakfast. Steve continued to stare at him for another few moments before starting to dig into his own omelette. Bucky watched with almost morbid fascination as Steve shoveled down massive bites of the thing without pausing until he was nearly the whole way through it. That had been like 10 eggs plus the heaping pile of other ingredients inside, it had spanned and piled across the whole plate, and Steve demolished it without looking like it was any more impressive than the omelette on Bucky's plate that had been a little less than half the size of his own. Wow, this guy could eat. Bucky shook his head and kept finishing his own food.

"Would it help you if you didn't wear it as much?"

"My arm?" Bucky couldn't believe that he was still on this topic, Steve was unusually persistent, but Bucky was finding that he liked that.

"Yeah."

"Yeah, of course it would. It's not exactly comfortable so I don't usually wear it when I'm just around my apartment, and that helps."

"Well, you don't have to wear it when you're here either." Bucky raised his eyebrow and Steve quickly continued, "I mean, obviously, I'm not going to pressure you or anything, I'm just saying if you're... If you come over again, or whenever, and you're comfortable, it's fine with me, it's..." He cleared his throat, obviously aware that he was digging himself a shallow grave, "I don't want you to be uncomfortable around me. Not for any reason. So if you want to take it off, or leave it off, or whatever, that's good with me, okay?"

Bucky bit back a laugh. Steve was way too good of a guy, and he clearly had no idea what he was doing, but he was trying, and Bucky loved him a little bit for that.

"Okay, Steve. Thank you." Steve's smile came back, small and shy. "I don't always feel comfortable without it, and I almost never go out in public without it, but I appreciate that anyway."

Steve nodded and checked the time. "We should probably get ready to go. What do you need?"

Bucky checked the time for himself and realized that they would definitely be rushing to get the shop in order before opening time. "I'll just change and brush my teeth I guess."

"Are you sure you don't want to shower?"

Bucky raised his eyebrows, the irresistible urge to tease the other man flowing up out of him. "I can't tell if that was a slur against how I smell," Steve's expression turned into mortification, "or was it suggestive? Because I really don't think we have time for that." Steve's cheeks turned a brilliant shade of pink and he started waving his hand around in the exact way that Bucky's Nan did when she was embarrassed.

"I don't- I wasn't- I- That's not-" Bucky cut off Steve's rambling by stepping forward and pressing a kiss to that perfect jaw.

"I'm teasing you," Bucky reassured him before moving back into the living room, "I don't need a shower, but you can take one, I'm just going to put my arm on and get dressed."

Steve nodded and headed for the bathroom and Bucky turned his attention to pulling his prosthetic out from under the coffee table, pulling the hoodie off and making quick work of attaching it to his shoulder. Even with his almost two years of experience learning how to use the thing, Steve got out of the shower at the same time that Bucky was finishing getting dressed.

"So, I could drive us, or we could take the train." Steve suggests as Bucky's putting on his shoes.

"Oh, you drive?" Bucky asks, glancing up. Steve nods and gestures to the helmets that are on one of the shelves by the door, Bucky hadn't even noticed them before.

"You ride?" Steve asked lightly, a bit of a smile on his lips.

"Oh." Bucky pulled his eyes from the helmets to Steve again. "Not in a long time, but I'm definitely up for it!"

Steve smiles and retrieves a helmet for each of them as Bucky straightens out his arm into his jacket pocket.

They go down to the garage under Steve's building and head for a bike in one of the spots. The bike is a beauty. Bucky lets out a low whistle of appreciation as they approach, and Steve automatically swings his leg over the beast. It looks as natural as breathing to Steve and Bucky has a deep appreciation for the picture he makes.

"Buck, you okay?" Steve asks from his seat on the bike as he loops the straps for his helmet. Bucky takes a deep breath and focuses again.

"Yeah, I, uh... Just realized the last time I was on a bike I had two hands."

Steve's eyes softened in understanding. "We can still take the subway if you would rather."

"Nah." Bucky puts the helmet on, deftly doing up the straps with his one hand. "I'll just hold on tight?" He smiles, trying not to seem as nervous as he suddenly feels.

"Sure, Buck. I've got you, I'll drive responsibly and everything." Steve promises and starts the bike so Bucky can climb on and fit himself into the space behind Steve.

The feeling is heady and Bucky reaches his arm around and grabs a tight hold on Steve's waist, his arm nearly all the way around him. Steve takes a moment to bring his hand down and give Bucky's arm a quick reassuring squeeze. Then he's pushing off and they're moving out of the parking garage and onto the street.

Several breathless minutes pass as they travel across the city, Steve is a good driver, not careless or anywhere near where Bucky would have to be concerned, but still uses the bike well across the roads until they reach the flower shop.

Steve locks up the bike around the back of the shop as Bucky gets the back door unlocked and the alarm system turned off.

"There's a coffee machine over there if you want to get that started?" Bucky points as he heads towards the front of the shop, turning on lights as he goes.

The shop isn't large, two big rooms and a tiny backroom that only contains the coffee machine, and a tiny desk with an ancient second hand computer for keeping the books. The preparation room is full of flowers, as expected, and there is no deliveries coming today, so Bucky passes through to the front without pausing. The front room is exactly the way that he left it yesterday, meaning that it's a complete mess.

Over the really nice night that he got to spend with Steve, he'd almost forgotten how much work he had to do, and he felt his shoulders droop at the reality of the mess in front of him.

There are bouquets on the floor, part of the main shelf was shoved out of place, and looks like it might be dented from a harsh kick it received yesterday. Bucky walks through the remains of the flowers without bothering to pick them up or brush them aside for now. He crouches by the shelving unit to decide if it needs to be repaired or replaced, or maybe he can just carefully place a display in front of the damage for now. It seems workable anyway.

A shocked inhale comes from the doorway between the two rooms and reminds Bucky that he's not alone today. Steve is standing there, an angry scent drifting over even the scents of the many flowers in the room, his face is drawn and frowning as his eyes sweep over the main area and over to Bucky.

"Is the coffee going?" Bucky asks, instead of addressing the damage all around them.

"Yeah," Steve comes over to Bucky, carefully stepping around the discarded blossoms on the floor. He comes over and pulls Bucky to his feet gently and presses a kiss to his forehead. "I was hoping it wouldn't be this bad." He admits and Bucky smiles, swatting at a large shoulder.

"What? You got somewhere to be, Steven?" He says with mock offense to see the smile overtake Steve's face.

"No, I'm good."

"You're not scared of a little hard work now, are you?" Bucky teases and Steve draws away from him. He pulls up to his impressive height, which isn't much taller than Bucky but it's enough to make a difference and to put emphasis on his broad frame.

"You challenging me, Buck?"

Bucky tips up onto his toes to press a kiss to that impressive jaw. "No, I'm telling you to go get a broom."

If Steve has an issue with being bossed around, the sweet sound of his laugh in the air certainly doesn't indicate it.

For the next hour the work in relative silence. "Relative" meaning, that they don't make small talk, but Steve occasionally asks what Bucky wants done with something or the other, and Bucky turns on the sound system to play something jazzy and calming. It's a while before Bucky feels like he can at least start to breathe more normally. With Steve here it's made this quick work instead of being frustrating and long, maybe it's the alpha scent, but Bucky feels calm and he's ahead of schedule for opening today even though he still needs to make a few dozen more bouquets for today, but there was enough unharmed ones remaining that he has a fine start for the day.

Before he heads to the backroom to start on the bouquets for today, he heads to the front to open the shutter and get the front signs and displays out so he can open. Steve silently comes alongside him to lend him a hand and things are set up in no time at all.

Before heading into the backroom he casts a glance at his very large blonde shadow.

"As much as I appreciate all this- and I really, really do. Don't you need to work today?"

"Nah. I'm sort of always on call, but this is one of my down weeks as long as there isn't an emergency I need to run in for." Steve smiles from where he is glancing up as he grabs the broom to sweep the floor again.

"So, it's like shift work?" Bucky asks, and Steve nods.

"Yeah, but again, I am on call, but there are some weeks where I'm more present and have to be in the office or on site of whatever situation I am needed to be at."

Bucky nods, "So, does that mean that you're all mine today?"

Steve's head jerks up from his work to meet Bucky's eyes where Bucky is smirking at him. A slow smile forms across his face. "Yeah, Buck, I'm all yours."

It's sweet and Bucky feels the smirk on his face softening to something to match how warm the sentiment makes him feel.

"Well, how about we start your flower arranging lessons now then?" He offers and Steve is instantly agreeable, quickly putting the broom and other supplies away so he can join Bucky in the preparation room.

Bucky shows Steve all about the flowers that he has on hand, how to handle them, as well as what he's learned about colour theory and different styles and shapes that have a higher appeal for people. Steve absorbs the information with big eyes, a slight furrow between his eyebrows as he follows Bucky's directions and sets out the bouquets that he has created. When a customer comes in, Bucky leaves Steve to keep making bouquets and goes to get the customer the flowers that they want.

The morning flies by, and they soon have more than enough bouquets and arrangements to replace the ones that had been damaged and had to be thrown out from yesterday. Bucky quickly learns that Steve doesn't like the cold, even though he seems warm enough, if he's left in the preparation room, which is essentially a cooler for too long, he gets all frowny and he rubs his arms like he must be freezing. Once they've finished the flower arranging, Bucky urges Steve to come to the front and sit with Bucky and interact with the customers that come in. The look on Steve's face the first time someone buys one of the arrangements he did himself is so enamored, Bucky wishes he would have taken a picture. Around noon, Steve goes off to go find them some food and Bucky is happy to watch him go and be the providing alpha that he seems eager to prove himself as.

While Bucky waits for Steve to come back, he pulls out his sketch book from under the counter and starts drawing one of the more creative arrangements that Steve had made that morning.

Steve isn't gone long before he returns with a bag from a deli up the street and it's smell is sharp and mouth-watering over the gentle smell of flowers. Bucky is making grabby hands at the bag before Steve even makes it around the counter. Steve laughs at him, presses a quick kiss to his lips, and only then does he hand over the food bag. They quickly push things off the counter to clear it and Steve goes to retrieve the other stool that is normally in the preparation room.

When they're nearly done they're food, Bucky pulls the sketchbook back over to him so he can finish the drawing he was doing before he forgets it.

"You draw?" Steve asks with interest and Bucky nods before looking up.

"A little. Mostly just flowers actually. It helped me... when I got back." He shrugged his left shoulder to imply all that that implied, still not really ready to talk about all of that, and then looked around the shop again. "Becca got this place while I was overseas the first time. Once I was discharged, I spent a hell of a lot of time here, I kept telling her it was because I was keeping her safe. But I think we both knew that wasn't true. I spent a lot of time basically huddled under the work tables in the back. Started drawing the flowers then. It helped." He didn't really specify what it helped. Didn't need to explain. And Steve accepted that with a sympathetic smile. Steve was a soldier too. He understood even without the details. "And I never really stopped." He says quietly and Steve places a large, warm hand over Bucky's.

"That's great. These are really good." Bucky's face turns a little pink under the compliment and he looks away. "I actually draw too. I was sick a lot when I was little, and so, before the military, I thought I might be an artist, but..."

Bucky turns his hand so he can take Steve's hand in his. "That's nice." He doesn't ask why he didn't pursue it. He doesn't feel like he needs to, and he knows that Steve keeps his cards close to his chest when it comes to his job and his time in the military. "Do you still draw?"

It's Steve's turn to turn red in the face, "Uh, yeah, not as much as I would like to. But, sometimes."

"You'll have to show me sometime." Bucky says and then leaves it at that, reclaiming his hand so he can finish his drawing, and they fall back into an easy, companionable silence. It is easy to be around Steve, really easy, and Bucky is close to falling head over heels for the gentle giant next to him. He's not sure that he has any reason to put a stop to these feelings either. It might be very soon indeed that Bucky is in too deep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Definitely didn't edit this as thoroughly as I usually do, was in a hurry to get it out for you all, so don't murder me if there are errors! The next chapter is basically finished, you can expect it next week. I'm going to try my best to post regularly, I promise!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is such a good chunk.  
> Bucky's Backstory(TM) is now fully unlocked!  
> Also, #giveBuckyfriends2k20 (I don't know if people do hashtags like that anymore, but the point stands. Bucky needs friends so I gave him one)

It's been just over two weeks since Steve met Bucky, but the other man was very quickly becoming a main fixture in his life, much to his delight. They've spent a lot of time in each other's places, mostly at Steve's. Tonight they've been sitting around on the couch, halfway watching a movie, but mostly chatting and laughing at the ridiculously fake action movie on the screen.

Bucky's phone rang, and instantly his smile disappeared from his face.

"I gotta take this."

Steve nodded dumbly, the change in Bucky's demeanor was jarring, but he quickly pauses the movie. "Sure."

He didn't leave the room, just walked to the other end of it and answered the call.

"Barnes." He cast a small, sheepish smile at Steve over his shoulder. Steve didn't get a chance to smile back before the Bucky was turning away with that same carefully blank expression.

"Yes, sir, I heard about it." ... "No, I wasn't planning on-" He paces a bit back towards Steve and pauses to listen to the other side of the conversation. "That's what they say about everything." He rolled his eyes before turning his back to Steve. "That's not the issue, sir." ... "With all due respect, sir, enough of my life has been on display. And it's really not the business of anyone, including you, including the OPA." ... "I know you do, and you should know by now that I always say no." ... "Yes, sir. You too."

Listening to one half of the conversation has put Steve on edge, and he can't help himself from watching the tense line of Bucky's back. It seems like one of those things that they haven't been willing to talk about, and Steve is... Well, he's waiting. He's hopeful that this will open a door to knowing more about this brilliant omega across from him, but if it doesn't, that's fine too. Bucky looks too tense and sounded both stern and really annoyed, so Steve isn't holding out that Bucky is going to want to talk about it, but Steve tries to even out his facial expression so he can be open to whatever Bucky wants to tell him now.

-

Bucky finally sighed before he turned back to Steve, who was sitting on the couch, his body tense, coiled, ready for action, he must be taking his cues from Bucky because he looked exactly like Bucky feels. Bucky rubbed his fingertips into his forehead and came over to slump onto the sofa next to Steve, their thighs pressed together. Steve reached over a tentative hand to start rubbing reassuring circles over his arm and shoulder.

"What was that about?"

Bucky leaned in to put his forehead down on Steve's shoulder, it's not that he didn't want to tell Steve, he'd been thinking about it. Might be too soon, but, but Bucky liked Steve. A lot. And Bucky also didn't want to get too far into this relationship without being clear about who he was and everything that had happened to him. Better to tell him now so if he was going to run away it would happen before Bucky got too attached to him.

"It's a long story? Sort of."

Steve nodded, didn't seem willing to interrupt.

"That was my former CO. And if I'm going to tell you what he wanted, I gotta explain to you kinda..." He rubbed at the place where his prosthetic met his shoulder and watched as Steve carefully tracked the motion. Steve was smart, he instantly understood exactly what Bucky meant, his posture changed to Ready For a Fight, the look in his eyes became focused and attentive, and he reached out for Bucky's hand, pulling it down from where it rubbed at his shoulder.

"You don't have to tell me if you're not ready."

"I don't. But I think I want to. It's just not an easy conversation."

Steve nodded thoughtfully. "Okay, Buck. Whatever you need."

Bucky laughed a little, his throat suddenly dry before he even started speaking. "I think I need wine if I'm going to tell you this."

Steve just nodded and pulled him in to press a kiss into his hair. "Alright, I'll get it."

It didn't take long before the wine was poured and they were back on the couch, this time Bucky sat far enough away from Steve so he could see him the whole time. They each leaned back into the armrests, facing each other, and let their long legs tangle on the middle of the couch.

"So I was in the military, as you know. The fact that I was in the military at all was a victory for omegas everywhere, you know? I applied right out of high school, only a few months after they passed the bill that said Omegas could serve. So it was easy to get in, because they were pushing for it. No one expected that someone with my designation would go that far, you know? But I was a hell of a shot. Best sniper a lot of people had seen, so I got moved to SpecOps pretty fast. I enjoyed it. My unit were good people, never saw me as anything but the guy who had their six. This." He shrugs what is left of his arm. "This was. There was an explosion. An ambush. These innocent kids... I had a vantage point back a ways and I saw them, they were just kids, hurt and scared. They shouldn't have been there and so, we made the call to do something about it. Our guys moved in to help these kids when the first explosion went off. I had to watch through my scope as bodies were flying. I should have stayed where I was, but I had to help. Those were my guys, they'd been my family for a couple years and they just... I couldn't just stay there, watching, helpless to do anything about it. I had to..." He shook his head, trying his best to not dissociate. "Got down there right as a second explosion went off. I got hit, but better off than a lot of my unit. When the enemy appeared to try to pick off the rest of us, I managed to pick off a bunch of them, but they grabbed me."

"Jesus." Steve whispers, almost like he doesn't know that he did, and Bucky tries to breathe and push through. Telling this never got any easier.

"I was... I was a POW for about two months. They..."

"Bucky-" Bucky put up his hand to stop him and continued to breathe deeply.

"A lot of my unit died in that first explosion, even more of them were badly injured. One of my guys though, he was pinned when they grabbed me, but he wasn't as hurt as the others. He wouldn't take it lying down, you know? He screamed at the brass until they let him take a unit of volunteers only to come after me. They got me out, saved my life, and definitely got there faster than an official rescue attempt would have. I got lucky." Steve distinctly looked like he didn't agree, his face was pale enough that it looked almost green but Bucky just pushed on. "My arm is- After I was back I asked some doctors if I wouldn't have been grabbed by the enemy if I would still have my arm, I explained the damage and stuff. They think probably they would have been able to save it. I was... I was left handed before, you know? It was a hell of a change." He tries to chuckle, but doesn't quite manage it. "That's also why I started drawing. It helped me learn how to be right handed. Anyway. There's a lot that happened in there. I'm still working through a lot of it. But its getting better. Then the same people who passed the bill to let Omegas serve keep trying to use what happened to me as a reason that Omegas shouldn't. It's fucked up. They keep trying to twist it that I made the call to help those kids because of my "maternal" nature. It's not what happened. Only a couple guys from my unit lived, they vouched for me, but the brass keep looking for a way to keep omegas out. And add the OPA, the "Omega Protection Acts" to that, and it's become a literal shit show." Bucky shook his head again, trying to put the whole story behind him at this point. God, his wine was empty and he put down the glass with his hand shaking, he wished it was still full, or full again. "Anyway. The OPA keeps wanting to use my face and my story to push their agenda, which is definitely not okay with me. I either hear from them, or my former CO every time they are putting on an event or a rally or they think they've found some great author that I'll approve of to write my story. It's all propaganda and I hate it. So that's what the call earlier was about."

Steve nodded, slowly, oh so slowly, before his brain seemed to catch up and he shook himself a little. His expression turned kicked-puppy and he looked lost, so very lost. It was a look that Bucky recognized from seeing it everyday in the mirror for a year after what had happened to him. He knew it was a lot to take in, hell, he'd lived it. After a long moment, Steve put his head in his hands and took a couple deep breaths, Bucky reached out to curve his hand over the slump of Steve's crumpled shoulders, gently stroking along the line along his shoulder blades and up his neck, over his scent glands and back down.

"Shit." Steve mumbled into his palms, and Bucky switched from rubbing to scratching along his shoulders.

"You okay?" Steve's head jumped up, incredulous.

"You're asking me that? I should be asking you that!"

"Hey, Stevie, sweetheart, come here?" Bucky tugged gently on the fabric of his shirt and Steve let himself be pulled along until his arms were around the omega and he was breathing deeply the faint scent of Bucky. Bucky closed his eyes, keeping his hand running soothingly through Steve's hair as the taller man clung to him. "I'm asking because I know it's a lot to take in." Steve nodded into his shoulder, trying to cling impossibly tighter. "I've also had almost two years and a hell of a lot of therapy to soften the blow of it all. You got it all dumped on you like 10 minutes ago."

Steve sighed, digging his nose into Bucky's scent glands despite the fact that his scent was pretty heavily masked, but the act of scenting was something every person was built to do, so he felt himself relax into it anyway, and after a few minutes, Steve's shoulders lost some of their tension. Bucky settled for pressing light kisses along his temple, his ear, the back of his head, basically anywhere that he could reach without disturbing how closely Steve still held on to him.

"You wanna stay over tonight?" Bucky asked quietly.

"Please." Steve whispers, tightening his grip just that little bit more.

-

Later, they've made it into Bucky's bed, and they've moved from clinging to kisses and hands exploring each other. Things are starting to escalate a little, the room's temperature seems to be increasing all the time, and shirts have been shed now.

Steve follows the lines of Bucky's scars around his shoulder and his side with his fingers and then his tongue, Bucky is shuddering under the touch in the best way. Steve's hands trail down further, reaching for the top of Bucky's jeans, then he goes painfully still, his muscles tightening, breath catching. Bucky immediately releases him, dropping his hand away and looking down at Steve to see what changed.

"Steve, what's wro-"

"Buck," Steve pulls back suddenly, his voice breaking, "When... when you were captured did they-"

"No, Steve. No." Bucky looks up at this beautiful alpha, his eyes crunched, and his scent not suggesting anything like disgust, only concern, maybe fear. Bucky runs his hand into his blonde hair, caressing him gently. "I mean, the suppressants wore out eventually, but I'd been on them my whole military career, takes a long time to get that out of your system. They knew I was an omega, it was on my tags, and they kept threatening what they would do when my heat hit, but I think it was just a fear tactic. But no. I was rescued before that happened, thank God. It could have been a lot worse. They did a lot of shit things to me, but not this. They didn't do this."

Bucky pulls him gently by his grip on his neck to kiss him gentle and slow. Steve melts into it, his wandering hands coming back to hold him up above Bucky as he slowly lowers his weight onto him, pinning him down with delicious pressure. The heat seems to have gone out all of a sudden and Bucky can't bring himself to care too much when Steve is resting over him and pressing sweet chaste kisses into his mouth.

When Steve finally pulls back, the softness in his expression leaves Bucky breathless.

"We don't have to do anything right now." Steve says, with no malice or contempt or judgement.

"We don't." Bucky agrees, and tugs lightly through Steve's hair again. "If you want, we can just sleep. But I don't mind if you want to do more?"

Bucky leans up enough to press an open mouthed kiss on Steve's jaw and he can feel him swallow roughly.

"Just... just a bit?" Steve suggests sheepishly.

Bucky smiles and melts back into the sheets a little bit more. "Sure, Steve. Whatever you want."

Steve smiles and leans back down.

They go to sleep a while later, both naked, and satisfied, and curled into each others arms.

-

Bucky startles awake at the scream. For a second, there's only blind panic as he tries to understand what's happening around him.

"James!" Steve screams into the dark. The bed is shaking and he's flailing and stretching out his arms. Bucky grabs onto one of his hands with his only hand, squeezing it, pulling it in to his chest, holding it tight even as it thrashes.

"Steve, hey, wake up, okay? It's okay. Everything is okay." Steve wakes with a gasp like he'd been drowning, his eyes wide and unseeing, searching for something. "Hey, hey, Steve, it's okay. You're safe, you're safe now. You're at home in New York with Bucky, okay?" Steve's arms come around Bucky with the force of a freight train. He grabs on like he'll never let go, nearly squashing Bucky in the process.

"James!" He sobs out into Bucky's shoulder. Bucky puts his hand around the back of Steve's neck and squeezes lightly over the glands there to calm him.

"It's okay. You're safe now. I've got you."

It wasn't until Steve stopped crying and finally pushed away on unsteady feet towards the bathroom that Bucky wondered at the fact that Steve had called him James. Well, Steve had always been really old-fashioned, maybe it's just one of those quirks. Bucky goes to make Steve a heart breakfast before he has to leave for work and hopes that it'll help.

But when Steve comes out of the bathroom, he looks like he always does, maybe a bit pale, but otherwise cheerful and smiling as he sits at the table and digs into the breakfast Bucky has made.

They don't talk about the nightmare, they've both seen war and untold horrors. Bucky feels a bit guilty that it might have been Bucky telling Steve about what he's gone through that triggered this nightmare, but he doesn't ask.

By the time Steve leaves for work, he seems completely back to normal, and Bucky has mostly pushed away the strangeness from this morning.

-

It was weird- knowing that Steve was keeping secrets from him. Bucky didn't know quite when or how he'd figured it out, it was just true. They'd been seeing each other for a few weeks now, and their relationship was going much faster than Bucky had ever had a relationship go before. They spent a lot of evenings and nights together and it was becoming more evident all the time. The way that he turned his screen away from Bucky when he was reading messages when they were together. The way he tensed up when Bucky asked him about his work, or his friends. Bucky thought, he hoped, that it was a simple thing. Steve worked for the government, for some form of SpecOps, nobody understood how necessary secrets were in that kind of lifestyle, but this felt different. It was a nagging in the back of his head that he couldn't get rid of when Steve woke up at 4am to go for a run, but always came up with an excuse when Bucky offered to come along, or offered to have him come to the gym with him. It felt... Complicated. Bucky figured he had enough experience with "complicated" over the years that he could pick up the signs of it. And damn him, if he didn't want to try anyway. There was something about Steve, something that made Bucky want to keep edging closer and closer, that made him want to fight for him, for them, when he had been in enough shit situations that he hadn't thought he'd ever willingly do "complicated" again.

Bucky stared down at the golden liquid in the glass in front of him and surveyed the bar through the mirror behind the bar. It was a good vantage point to be able to see everything that was happening behind him but still look as casual as anyone else in the dingy bar. So, because he was watching, he wasn't surprised when a bear of a man dropped into the bar stool next to him.

"Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes?"

"Why're your eyes sore? You been looking in the mirror again?" Bucky shot back before he turned his head to grin at the hulking man beside him.

"Ouch. That's harsh, Barnes." Dugan grinned at him, stretching out a hand to clasp around Bucky's forearm in a gesture that's so familiar it has become second nature. "Good to see your ugly mug though."

Bucky barked out a laugh as the regular bartender swooped over with Dugan's regular order, and a refill for Bucky. "What? You miss me already? It's only been three weeks since your wedding, you know."

"As if I paid any attention to you on my wedding day. I didn't even know you were there!"

"I was your best man!" Bucky protested even as they shared a laugh. Timothy "Dum Dum" Dugan had been Bucky's best friend since they joined up at the same time, met at Basic Training when a few too many rounds of arm wrestling had led to them full body wrestling and then having to cut the lawn outside the massive front gates with scissors for a whole day. They'd been pretty inseparable ever since. Including, in Bucky's opinion but not in Dugan's, that two month stint where Bucky was being tortured in a mud pit and Dugan was screaming at the American "heroes" in charge of "making sure that their boys get home". He's the only one of their unit who came out of the ambush with only internal scarring, he's as whole as any of them made it out of there, but he'll just start lamenting about his half-burned-off mustache from that incident if Bucky brings it up, so he doesn't.

"You look good." He does. He's big and muscled, and the t-shirt with it's dumb sleeves rolled up does nothing to hide those muscles, or the tattoo of the snarling wolf that covers his left bicep- Bucky used to have a matching one, like everyone in their unit had, but he couldn't quite get himself to not break into a panic-sweat at the thought of a needle touching his skin to do a replacement on his only remaining arm. Dugan is grinning at him, his blue eyes crinkling over his ridiculous mustache and Bucky almost doesn't stop himself from rolling his eyes.

"I can't believe Clara let you keep the 'Stache."

"Oh, she loves the 'Stache almost as much as you do."

"So, negative amounts?" Dugan let out his deep rumbling chuckle, and gulped at his beer. "Seriously though. How is it?"

"Being married?"

"No, being a bunch of rocks pretending to be a human. Yes, being married! I can't believe you went on a three week honeymoon and you came back still this much of an idiot."

"Hey, you can't fault her for trying. There's just nothing on this side of the bar that needs improving." He gestured in between them to make it clear he means that Bucky is the one who needs help, Bucky scoffs at him and waves down the bartender for another round, ditching the whisky and ordering a beer for himself so he'll slow down a bit. He shouldn't be having much alcohol at all with his new meds- not that he's going to tell Tim that.

"It's great though, fair warning that I'm about to launch into a massive rant about how great my darling Clara is, so you want to talk about anything else first?" Bucky sort of did, but he didn't take him up on it, just raising his eyebrows as he sat back more comfortably on the stool.

It took Dugan an impressive hour and ten minutes to run out of words about how great being married is to just stare off unseeing but looking wistfully up at the top shelf scotch. Bucky snorted at him and ordered him another beer without interrupting his little bubble of happiness. He shook himself out of it not long after and turned his eyes back to Bucky. "Seriously, man, you should try it."

"What? Getting married?" Dugan just raised an impressive eyebrow and Bucky gave nothing away in his face, he always did win at poker nights, "Yeah, I'll get right on that."

"Seriously? You still haven't gotten yourself out of that flower shop at all, have you? I bet you've been sitting at home in front of your TV just waiting for your best pal to come home and drag you out for a night, right?"

"Not exactly." Bucky tries to protest but Dugan just steam rolls right past him.

"Oh, so you actually went to the VA like you promised?"

Bucky cringed.

"Uh huh, that's what I thought. What's so scary about it anyway? It's just a bunch of guys as messed up as we are."

"Most of them didn't have their faces plastered to the News for eight months after they got back." Bucky muttered into his empty glass.

"Yeah, well, you know we're all tough as nails, and don't give a shit. Most of us are too triggered by the damn news to be up on current events anyways."

Bucky shook his head and aimed for something more light before the conversation could get away from him. "They only like you because you bring the good brownies anyway. See if they like you now that your mom isn't baking for you."

"Jokes on you because Ma gave the recipe to Clara and she's going to keep us well-stocked enough to be accepted at any of those damn meetings."

"You don't like them either." Bucky accused by pointing his finger at him.

"I don't have to like them to realize that they help."

"Ugh. Can't you just ask me if I've met anyone interesting lately and we can shut the depressing talk down?"

"Sure, like you've met anyone without me dragging you out to-" He stopped suddenly, eyes widening as Bucky made a show of wiggling his eyebrows around at him. "You're serious, Sarge?"

"God, I hope so, if we aren't here to talk about this amazing guy I met, that means we're only here to talk about your honeymoon, and you're already married! Share some of that happiness, will ya?"

"You're serious? You met someone?"

Bucky just answered by tilting his head up with a condescending grin.

"Oh, fuck! You're fucking serious! What the hell, Barnes? You wait until now to bring this up? I'm way too drunk and it's way too fucking loud in here for this conversation." He scrambled to his feet, grabbing his coat and that stupid-ass hat that his wife had gotten him ages ago as a joke and he'd never taken off. "Get up! I need a 24hour burger place asap!"

It took them way less time than Bucky would have thought, to plop into a booth at a local burger joint, and Dugan downed like 6 glasses of water before he felt sober enough to let Bucky start talking.

"Okay, I need those deets." He said as he sat back and fixed Bucky with an intense stare.

"God, never say 'deets' again. What are we? 12 year old girls?"

"Nah, then we'd be out way past our bedtime." Bucky rolled his eyes and waited while the waitress thumped their impressively loaded plates and milkshakes down in front of them.

"So...?" Dugan said around a massive bite of burger.

"So, Steve." Bucky said, and then said nothing else as he bit into his own burger just to watch Dugan get more frustrated at the silence.

"Seriously, all you're going to say is 'Steve'? Who the fuck is Steve? How did you meet him?"

"Steve is my... Well, he might be my boyfriend, but we haven't put a label on it yet."

"You've been out a few times?"

"Yeah, quite a few actually. Told him about my arm and stuff."

Dugan paused at that, he understood that talking about Bucky's arm wasn't just about his arm, it was about everything. He pushed back into his chair and took a good hard look at Bucky's face. "Well, shit."

"Yeah."

"You're serious."

Bucky shrugged, but then couldn't leave it at that so, "Yeah."

"Fuck. I can't believe it. When was the last time you went on a date?"

"Two days ago-"

"No, no, I mean. Before this guy?"

Bucky really did shrug then, he had no idea.

"Okay, deets."

Bucky rolled his eyes. "He came in to the flower shop to get flowers for his Ma's grave. He looked like a kicked puppy. I mean, for good reason, but still. You should have seen the waves of sadness rolling off his massive shoulders."

"Massive shoulders, huh? Knew you liked 'em built."

"He could probably bench press you." Bucky snarked, though it was doubtful, it's not like Dugan wasn't a great hulking mass of a man himself.

"And?"

"And, I don't know. He's... Sweet. Stubborn. A complete asshole sometimes."

"A great lay?"

"Oh, shut up. We're not exactly there yet."

"You're not?"

"Nah, we've been taking things pretty slow. Not that there hasn't been _anything_ ," Bucky's face is an uncalled for shade of red, he can feel it, "But yeah, he's respected that."

"Shit. I already like him. Am I supposed to not like him yet?"

"As if I would know. I liked Clara the first time I met her."

"Yeah, but she's my... You know, my _one._ "

"Gross." Bucky crinkles his nose at him, even though they both know that he doesn't mean it.

"You're saying that now, but you also look ready to put on a white dress and walk down the aisle yourself there, pal."

"UGH! I'm not into that, thank you very much!"

Dugan chuckled and a moment of silence passed between them. "What does he do?"

"Ex-military, works for the government doing some kind of SpecOps now."

"Oh, man. No wonder you like him."

"Yeah, yeah, make fun of me, why don't you?"

"When can I meet him?"

Bucky shook his head, wanting to make it a joke, but also, "Don't know if we're there yet."

"You haven't met any of his friends?"

"Not yet."

"Alright, but I better be the first person you call. You can't keep this guy to yourself, I can vet him." Dugan suddenly brightened up, "Actually, that's a great idea! You know Frenchie knows a guy that is pretty high up in the data food chain, we could get his file pretty easy."

"No, Tim, come on!"

"Oh! You called me Tim! I can't be in that much trouble, it's a good fucking idea! You can't tell me that you don't want to know!"

Bucky paused a second too long. "See! What's his full name? His serial number?" Dugan whipped his phone out of his pocket, without even wiping the grease off his hands first.

"No, we're not doing that." Bucky said as he snatched the phone from Dugan's hand.

"You don't have questions he won't answer?" Dugan stretched to try to grab the phone back but Bucky kept it away from him.

Bucky tsked, but put the phone in his pocket to keep it away from him. "Yes, obviously, but you and I both know what SpecOps is like, there are obviously things that he can't talk about!"

Dugan looked at him carefully, the look was weirdly unnerving from someone who usually joked around as much as Dum Dum Dugan. "Is that it though, just state secrets?"

Bucky huffed out a breath and went back to munching on his fries. "I don't know," he finally admitted, "but I don't think that we're at a point where I can ask. I mean, sometimes it seems like more than that, seems a little personal, but I also don't think that it's something that I can go digging in to. Trying to give him a chance to tell me, you know?"

"That why you told him about that?" Dugan gestured to his arm with his chin without bothering to take his hands off his burger.

"Nah, I wanted to tell him, so I did, didn't have anything to do with what he is or isn't telling me."

Dugan considered this for a long minute as they both put their attention on their plates for a while. "Alright. You know what you're doing. But you keep me updated, alright? You decide you want to go digging, you know I got your six."

"Yeah, thanks Dum Dum."

The larger man broke into a grin. "No problem, man. Now give me back my damn phone."

-

"Sam," Steve jogged quickly to catch up with Sam on his way out of the training floor, he'd been trying to catch Sam alone for a few days now, so he seized the opportunity by quickly stepping in to the elevator with him.

"Hey Steve, what's up?"

"You wanna come by my floor for a bit?" Sam raised his eyebrow but didn't ask, just nodded while the elevator took them up and deposited them out on Steve's floor.

"Coffee?"

"Yeah, why not?" Sam said and sat at the counter patiently while Steve put on the machine. "So, what's up?"

Steve turned a little pink, knowing that he'd been pretty obvious in getting Sam here, but Sam was always so good about answering Steve's questions about the world, so he didn't hesitate to ask, "You know about the OPA?"

"Yeah, why?" Steve quickly turned from the question, pouring them both cups of coffee while pretending to be nonchalant.

"Can you tell me about it?" Sam nodded, he really was always good about answering these things for Steve.

"Sure, man. Guess it wasn't around back in the day. Omega population is on a decline you know? They've figured out that it's like... only a 5% chance that an omega will be born to a couple without an Omega in the pair? And Beta-Omega pairs have something like a 30% chance of having an omega, but Alpha-Omega pairs are more like... 60 or 70%? I think that's right. Alpha's and Beta's can be born to any set of parents pretty easily. But because Omega's are rare enough as it is, the OPA has started doing these regulations, and they're talking about implementing some pretty extreme laws which most people are not on board with."

"What laws?" Steve narrowed his eyes, he hated stuff like that.

"Like... keeping Omega's out of dangerous work, and monitoring who they marry so there are more Alpha-Omega pairs and more chance for Omega's to be born, I guess? I don't know all the details, but my sister is an Omega, and she's spitting mad about some of their proposals. It's all a bit messed up, Omega's are still people. But the OPA is so big on "protection" that they're borderline taking human rights. Nothing extreme has happened yet, but I know it's a continued issue." They both shook their heads, that wasn't okay, but it explained a lot to Steve about Bucky's anger.

"Okay. Okay. Thanks, Sam."

"Anytime, dude. So what's this about?"

"Yeah, um. You know Bucky?"

"The guy you've been seeing who doesn't know you're Cap? Yeah, I know OF him." Sam says pointedly, still obviously wanting to meet him, but Steve ignores that for now.

"He's Omega."

"Really? I thought you said he was in the mili... Oh. Ohhh! Is his name Barnes?"

"What? Yeah, Sam, it is. How?"

"Barnes is one of the most famous Omega's in military history, dude. At least right now. No wonder you asked about the OPA. He tell you about the hearings?"

"The hearings?" Steve watched carefully as Sam's lips tightened in anger and he stirred his coffee with more force than he really needed to use.

"Yeah, man. A few years back the MPs and the OPA put him up in a military court to try to get him to imply that because of what happened to him, Omega's shouldn't be in the military. It was awesome, because he completely slayed them." His lips quirked up into a smile, "My sister cried when she watched that, I'm pretty sure she has it recorded, because he was so..."

"Yeah." Steve agreed with his own smile, he didn't need to be told, he knew, "He is."

"Dude," Sam looks at him, that look that he has that is both kind and has a bit of Imma-smack-you in his eyes, "You gotta tell him."

"I!" Steve ducked his head, and swallowed back his protest before glancing back up at Sam, "You think so?"

"If he's telling you that he's a _male omega_ that's a huge deal man. It's probably his most carefully guarded secret. You gotta meet that honesty with some of your own if you want this relationship to work. He went way out there for you, he's gotten a lot of shit for being an omega. He trusted you with this, to not abuse him with his status. I'm pretty sure he won't abuse your secret either."

"Yeah." Steve takes a deep breath to absorb that, "Yeah. You're right. God, I hate it when you're right." Steve said with a smile and Sam nodded his agreement, with a shit-eating grin stretching his lips.

"That's because I always am."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter features COMMUNICATION! YAY!  
> Shouldn't be long before the next chapter is up, just finishing some details on it so should be by next week at the latest!  
> Thanks, guys!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE TRUTH COMES OUT  
> Also- a crisis ft. a minor breakdown  
> I'm really pleased with this chapter so I hope you like it

Steve invited Bucky over to spend the evening at his place, and Bucky had agreed easily. He'd gone home after his shift at the flower shop to go home and pack a bag. Steve had only said for the evening, but Bucky was hopeful that it would be more than that, so he made his backpack into an overnight bag before heading down to the street. It was nice that they didn't live that far from each other and Bucky enjoyed the fresh air after being cooped up in the shop all day, not that it didn't smell great to be surrounded by fresh flowers all day, it was one of his favourite things about working there, to be surrounded by the calming scent of flowers. But deep down, Bucky would always be a city boy, and he enjoyed walking the dozen blocks over to Steve's apartment.

"Hey, Buck!" Steve greeted happily when Bucky finally arrived, letting Bucky to move past him to get inside.

"Hi there." Bucky said happily, leaning in for a quick kiss before moving to take off his shoes.

"Long day?" Steve asked, running his hands over Bucky's tense shoulders, and Bucky let himself slump into that touch, trusting Steve to keep him steady.

"The day was fine, pretty normal. Anything interesting happening with you?" Bucky asked to the air in front of him, since Steve was still pressed up against his back, and got the pleasure of feeling Steve lean down to press his forehead into Bucky's shoulder and shake his head.

"Nothing's really going on right now for me to be involved in, it's boring, but probably better for everyone that it is."

"Sure," Bucky agrees easily, he doesn't need to know the details of Steve's job, "Is it okay if I take my arm off?"

"Of course, Buck, you know you don't have to ask." Steve gives his waist one last squeeze before releasing him. Bucky quickly strips off his sweater so he can unclasp the prosthetic and gives an appreciative groan when the weight falls away. Steve quickly takes the arm from him, and places it on the little table by the door before sliding his arms back around Bucky, just like he had been a minute ago.

"So what's the plan for tonight?" Bucky asks and wiggles himself around in Steve's grip until they're facing each other, but Steve's face isn't what he'd been expecting it to be, and he feels himself tense up at the man-on-a-mission expression that Steve is wearing. His eyes are dark and serious and missing the light glint that they normally have. "Everything alright?"

Steve take a deep breath and closes his eyes before he nods. "Yeah, you, uh, you want to come sit on the couch with me?" He looks nervous, and that makes Bucky nervous, but he nods and steps back from Steve so he can head for the couch.

The couch is soft brown leather, a little bit too well cushioned, and is pressed up against the half-wall that divides Steve's apartment in half- kitchen on one side, living room and hallway to the other rooms, on the other. It's comfortable, and it's maybe Bucky's favourite thing in this apartment, usually it puts him right at ease, but not tonight. Steve looks like he's about to sprout smoke from his ears at any second, so Bucky sits lightly on the edge of the couch and bites his lip to wait until Steve is ready.

Steve takes his time approaching the couch, takes an extra minute to straighten out Bucky's shoes and to move his backpack to the edge of the couch before moving over to finally sit down.

"You want something to drink?"

"Is something wrong?" Bucky asks instead and Steve shakes his head.

"Everything is fine, I just... Are you sure you don't want anything to drink?"

Bucky reaches out his hand to link pull on Steve's and make him come sit on the couch next to him. "I'm okay. What's going on?"

Steve looks at the ground and chews on his lip for a moment before finally looking up and meeting Bucky's eyes.

"Hey, Buck. I've been thinking a lot about everything you've told me in the last few weeks." Steve said softly and Bucky's shoulders jumped up to the defensive, and his face fell to perfect neutral.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. There's something that I gotta tell you too."

Bucky hasn't mapped out exits this fast since his last mission. He's suddenly wishing that he had left his arm on for the extra defense. He could already hear the _I guess it_ does _matter to me that your omega_ or _you're omega, but not enough for me_ or the alpha voice saying _get on your knees_ or the _you've got too much baggage_ or the 5000 other things it could be. His mind races and he almost jumps out of his skin when Steve brushes his fingers over the back of Bucky's hand.

"Buck? You with me?"

Bucky's eyes finally come back to meet Steve's, his big blues laced with concern. This is Steve. Bucky forces himself to breathe, clench and unclench his hand, breathe again. This is _Steve_ , he reminds himself. It's going to be fine. He takes one final breath and nods.

"Yeah, pal. I'm good. What is it?"

"Right. So." He looks nervous, and he brushes a hand over the back of his neck. "I know it was a big thing that you shared with me. That you trusted me with that. Thank you so much for telling me all of that. So, I, uh... I want to be honest back." Oh god, maybe Steve is _married_. Bucky has been panicking about what Steve isn't telling him for weeks now, he shouldn't be jumping the gun on it already. He carefully nods his head and Steve nods back, "Okay, I'm just gonna..." He takes a deep breath that Bucky can't help but mimic.

"I'm-" the words get stuck in Steve's throat as soon as he met Bucky's eyes. Bucky might be freaking out, but so is Steve. And somehow, that's what sets Bucky at ease. He flips his hand so he can hold Steve's hand, cradling his fingers and rubbing his thumb over Steve's.

Steve takes in a shaky breath, squeezing Bucky's fingers right back.

"I'm..." He chokes again and makes a sour face, like he's frustrated that he can't finish that sentence. "Okay, I'm just going to show you first, okay?"

"Okay?"

Steve sighs and twists himself so he can reach behind the couch without letting go of Bucky's hand. His arm slides between the couch and the wall and a second later he is pulling out something large, round, and metallic. He turns it around and suddenly Bucky is looking at vibrant blues and reds, and a big white star. Steve pulled it down low enough so Bucky could see his face over it. Bucky's eyes flickered from Steve to the, the, _shield_ , because that's what it was, and back.

"Is that...?"

"Yeah, uh. I'm... Captain America?" He says it like a question and Bucky feels his eyes widen.

"Oh." Bucky let his gaze drift to the shield and then down to their joined hands. It felt like it should be a big mind-blowing revelation, but Bucky's head felt slow, too many thoughts involved. "You did say you protect people." Steve nods. "You said you work for the government?" He finally asked.

Steve grimaced. "For SHIELD, and they work for the world security counsel so... yeah."

Mentioning SHIELD made Bucky's mind go a quick other direction. "The woman who was an alpha that you loved. That was Agent Carter?"

"Yeah, Peggy."

"Huh."

A solid minute later Steve let out this sound that could really only be called a whine.

"Buck, please, say something." He was letting out stressed/sad alpha smell everywhere.

"I thought you said that your birthday was in November?" Bucky says, not accusing, just... Confused about why Steve wouldn't tell him the truth.

Steve shakes his head. "It is! I was born on November 8th. I... When the whole Captain America thing happened, they erased a lot of the file that I had before that. They made up things to make me fit the whole picture, you know?" Bucky didn't so he cocked his head to the side and Steve huffed out a breath. "I... People really don't talk much about the fact that my parents were immigrants, or that I got in a lot of fights and I used to go to all these protests... I got arrested a couple times for it, but that's not in my file. They just kept saying things like- ' _Steve Rogers- all American man, Alpha, loves justice, was born on the 4th of July!'_ I didn't know how to say no, and then, you know, when I got out of the ice, my old files have really disappeared, everyone just... They threw me a party in July and I didn't know how to..." Steve trails off this time, biting at his lip and looking away.

"So, your friends don't even know when your birthday is?" Steve shakes his head and Bucky just stares at him incredulously, letting that sink in.

"Huh." Bucky says softly and Steve seems to droop a little, but Bucky pushes on. "What year were you born?"

"What? I, uh... 1918." Bucky finally moved, he gave Steve a squeeze before releasing his hand and reaching for the shield. Steve doesn't move, doesn't seem to breathe as Bucky grasped his hand around the top edge of the shield. With a small push, Steve let him guide the shield out of the way so that it wasn't hiding any part of him. Once it was out of the way, Bucky reached for his jaw instead. Steve relaxed fully into the touch.

"Okay." Bucky says softly, staring into those blue, blue eyes.

"Okay?" Steve repeated with the smallest, hopeful smile.

"Yeah. That's okay, Steve. You're still my Stevie." The breath seemed punched out of him at the words, so he repeated them, "You're still my Steve. And I'm still going to kiss you now." Steve nodded fiercely and Bucky leaned forward to catch his lips against his own.

It felt like the first time all over again, exploring against each other. After a minute there came the dull thump of something metallic hitting the floor and Bucky smiled against Steve's mouth as Steve brought both of his hands to the back of Bucky's head.

"Buck." Steve breathed out his name across his lips before ducking his head down to push his nose into Bucky's neck. Bucky tangled his fingers in the short hairs along Steve's neck. He planted a kiss on Steve's temple and breathed him in. His scent still held a faint scent of anxiety, a little burnt instead of tart apple smell, a little stronger of metal and paint, and that thought made Bucky glance down at the shield on the floor. Steve held on a little tighter as he rubbed his nose along Bucky's neck and along his scent gland, even though Bucky was still wearing scent blockers. The act of scent marking was calming no matter what though so Bucky leaned into it. Steve didn't go full on, he didn't bite or lick, he just kept his nose and his breath against his skin.

"Why are you so worried, sweetheart?" Bucky asked into Steve's hair and Steve whined and clung closer, "I'm not going anywhere."

"Thought maybe it would be too much. There's lots we gotta talk about now."

"Yeah, but first," Bucky agreed, then pushed on Steve's shoulder to put him back far enough he could meet his eyes. "Steve, this matters. It matters to me. I care that you told me, that you trusted me with this. But that's it, okay? It doesn't change anything for me." He leaned in to press a kiss to Steve's forehead. "You're still my Stevie."

With the promise of a long talk ahead of them, Bucky pulled Steve along with him as he laid back on the couch, so Steve was laying beside, and a little bit on top of Bucky. Steve took in long breaths along Bucky's skin, above his scent glands that were still scentless. Bucky stared at the ceiling and rubbed small circles into the back of Steve's skull until the smell of stressed-alpha disappeared into the air.

It was a long time later before either of them was motivated to move, but they eventually pulled each other up as they headed to start making dinner.

"Wait," Bucky looked up quickly from the pot of pasta, "How old are you actually?"

"Hmm?" Steve asked from where he was chopping up a salad. "I told you I was born in-"

"Yeah, but I mean. How old are you? Like, I know you were in the ice for a long time, but how many years have you _lived_?" When Steve looked at him it was with such a strong look of... something. Shock? Disbelief? Confusion? Hurt? Bucky couldn't place it.

"Nobody has ever asked me that." So the expression was a mix of all of those then.

Bucky shifted his hips over to bump against Steve's as he turned back to stirring the pasta. "Well, I'm pretty sure I should know how old my boyfriend is."

The knife hit the board maybe too hard and Bucky jerked his attention there to make sure that Steve hasn't cut himself. He hadn't, but he was looking at Bucky with wide eyes.

"I'm your boyfriend?" Steve asked, his eyes wide with something that looked almost like wonder.

"Well, yeah. If you want to be." Bucky felt his cheeks heat up.

"Yes, please! I'd love to be your boyfriend." Steve's face was a glorious shade of red and Bucky couldn't resist pressing another kiss to those lips.

"Good. I'd love that too."

A few kisses, a full minute of laughter, and a complete meal later Bucky realized something. He gasped, "Hey! You never answered the question!"

"What? Oh, how many years I've lived, huh?" Steve finished setting the table silently, but he was clearly thinking about it. Once everything was on the table and they sat down, Bucky twisted their ankles together under the table.

"What are you thinking?"

"I think- I think its 29?"

"Yeah?"

"I... okay, so I was born in 1918. Then the plane crash was in '45 so I was 26. And they found me in... 2016, right? And now its 2019, so I guess that makes it 29, right?"

"That sounds right, but you know what that means?"

"Hmm?" Steve asked and Bucky tugged Steve's feet towards him under the table.

"I'm 30! That means I'm older than you! I'm older than a hundred year old man!" Steve started laughing, "Steve! Don't laugh! What am I supposed to do with this information? What do I tell my sister?" Suddenly Bucky is feeling a bit hysterical over the whole thing, "Oh my God, what do I tell my sister?"

"Uh." Steve says, intelligently.

"She loves Captain America. This is going to be so embarrassing, whenever you guys meet. Oh my God."

"You want us to meet?" Steve asks, a dumb little smile and Bucky rolls his eyes.

"Obviously I want my family to meet my boyfriend, dummy."

Steve picks up his hand and presses a kiss to the back of it, his eyes are sparkling with warmth as he cradles the hand carefully.

"You want to meet the team?"

"The team meaning... The Avengers?"

"Yeah. I don't have any family left, but they're the closest thing I have."

Bucky let that information sink in for a moment. "Well, that's a little intimidating."

"Is it?" Steve asked innocently and Bucky scoffed at him.

"Well, I'd like to meet them, if you want me to. Maybe not right away though. They seem like they would be quite protective of you."

"Oh, they are."

"That's not reassuring, Steve!"

Steve lets out a laugh, long and loud. "Don't worry, I won't let them interrogate you or anything."

"Pal, I've been a prisoner of war, the interrogation isn't the scary part." Steve winces at the reminder and Bucky squeezes his hand to reassure him that he's not offended by Steve's choice of words.

"Well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it?"

"That sounds like a great plan." Bucky agrees. "For now though, you really have to give me back my hand so I can actually eat this meal you know."

Steve drops Bucky's hand like it burned him, his face turning red. "I'm sorry, I forgot!" Steve fusses and Bucky can't help but laughing at him as he finally picks up his fork. "Are you going to stay over tonight, by the way?"

Bucky is ready to say yes, but he hesitates. "Well, I'll stay for a while, obviously, but I wasn't planning to stay overnight." Which is a lie, but he knows he'll need some time to himself after all of this. "Maybe you can drive me home later?"

"I can do that."

They exchange a smile and turn back to their meals, it's maybe the most relaxed Bucky has felt with someone else in a long time which is funny, considering that part of Bucky is in emergency mode, he knows he'll freak out about the information he was just given later, when he can. But for now, he focuses on his boyfriend and just being here in the moment.

-

Steve had been the perfect gentleman and had taken Bucky home sometime after the second movie and all the kissing and the hands down each others pants part of the evening. It's been hours since Steve dropped him off, but Bucky can't turn his mind off. He listens to the phone ring and ring and ring, but refused to hang up. Eventually the line connected.

"What's it?" Dugan said in lieu of a greeting.

"Okay, so you remember when you said you wanted to be updated about the whole..." He trailed off because what could he say, really?

"The whole thing with your not-quite-boyfriend who is keeping secrets?" Dugan replies, sounding more awake by the moment.

"Yeah."  
"Do I need to unlock my gun locker?"

"No."

"You want me to call Frenchie's friend?"

"No, God, I want you to listen to me before you do something drastic and completely unnecessary!" Bucky practically yelled at him. The calm from yesterday completely gone by now.

"Fine, shit, what the hell? What's so important then?"

"His name is Steve Rogers."

There was an expectant silence, "Okay, so what? He's named after an Avenger?"

"No! He... he is an Avenger?" Bucky's voice trailing off at the end.

"He's... What?" Dugan says dully, still obviously half-asleep.

"Steve is Captain Goddamn America!" Bucky laments loudly.

"What?" Dugan asked again, in that same expressionless tone.

"Damn, I'm going to send you a picture okay?"

"Okay?"

There was a beep and a rustle from the other end of the phone.

"Barnes."

"Yes?"

"Why did you send me a picture of you kissing Captain Goddamn America?" Dugan is fully screeching by the end of the sentence and Bucky feels his own sound levels hit the same level.

"I sent you a picture of me kissing my goddamn boyfriend!"

"What!?" This time at least he said it with feeling.

"I'm dating Steve Goddamn Rogers!"

"What the fuck!?"

"That's what I said!" Bucky screeched into the phone, now in full- meltdown mode.

Dugan was silent for a moment.

"It's five am."

"Is it? I haven't slept."

"God, don't tell me that! I don't want to know about you defiling a national icon!"

It was Bucky's turn to be carefully silent.

"Barnes?" Dugan asked carefully.

"Oh my God."

"What now!?"

"I defiled a goddamn national icon! Oh my God! SHIT! FUCK! SHIT!"

"Barnes! You gotta calm yourself the fuck down!" Dugan tried to command even though his voice was screeching at the same levels that Bucky's was.

"YOU gotta calm the fuck down!" Bucky shouted back and was met with a wall of muttered cursing.

"Okay, fuck all of this. I can't do this. This is not a phone conversation. Are you at home?"

Bucky looked around his apartment carefully as if it had changed since he'd gotten home a few hours ago to stare at his ceiling all night until he panic-called Dugan.

"Yes?"

"Okay, good. Stay the fuck there, alright? I'll be over in an hour. I'm bringing beer and pizza."

"It's five am!"

"It's not my fault you called me at stupid-dark-thirty with a middle of the night panic!" Dugan accused back and then hung up his phone before Bucky could protest, but he could throw his phone across the room, so he did that and then slumped back onto his mattress.

"What the fuck?" He asked as he slapped his hand over his eyes and waited for his backup to arrive.

-

Bucky and Dugan were a very ungraceful pile of limbs across the couch/floor of Bucky's apartment. Well, Dugan was mostly on the couch and Bucky was mostly on the floor, but that was besides the point. They'd sprawled out to eat pizza, but ended up yelling about the whole situation back and forth until Bucky had given up and slumped to the floor, his feet still on the couch and Tim had looped his feet over Bucky's and sprawled down the couch. They'd been staring blankly at the ceiling for a while now. Bucky didn't want to know how long it had been.

"What the fuck." Dugan said again, and Bucky groaned into his hand, his prosthetic was halfway under the couch, not attached to him anymore, he didn't know when he had even taken it off. Being panic-confused was worse than being drunk at this point, though by now, most of the panic was gone as well.

"Okay, what if we..." Dugan trails off after a moment and nothing follows.

"You got a follow-up to that?" Bucky asked but found Dugan staring at the ceiling again.

"He really pulled out the shield and everything?"

"Yeah."

"Do you think he would let me borrow it?" Bucky groaned again and struck out with his foot blindly, apparently hitting him right in the nuts based on his holler and how he fell off the couch onto the floor next to Bucky. Bucky snickered as he rolled around in pain for a minute, finally settling with his head pressed up against Bucky's unprotected ribs on his left side.

"What do I do?" Bucky demands.

"What do you mean- _'_ what do I do'?"

"What do I _do?"_ Bucky glanced down at his friend and found Dugan looking at him instead of at the ceiling.

"What do you want to do? You wanna break up with him?"

"No!" Bucky said, reaching to hit him, but Dugan grabbed his wrist and Bucky immediately gives up once his violence is foiled.

"Okay, so what then?"

"I don't even know."

"But you like him." Dugan isn't asking.

"Yeah."

"You want to date him."

"Yeah."

"So, what then? You want Steve Rogers without the Captain America thing?"

Bucky thought about it. "No... I don't think so. It's part of him."

"Yeah, it is."

"So, I just, what? Say it doesn't matter?"

"Do you think it doesn't matter?"

"I mean, it does? Of course it does."

They're both silent for a minute. "Fuck." Bucky mutters as he focuses on the ceiling.

"What?" Dum Dum asks.

"It's just... I really thought I was done having cameras shoved in my face."

"Has that happened?"

"No, but it will, won't it?" Dugan raised his eyebrows at him. "It will, if this goes on like I want it to."

"You want it to be a while." Dum Dum said confidently and it was Bucky's turn to look at the ceiling.

"Is it too soon for me to say I want it to be forever?" Bucky lets the question leave him in a breath, quiet and unsure. Dugan flips over and moves closer so his arm is thrown over Bucky's chest, and he's pressed in to Bucky's side, just a comforting touch that Bucky can't help but relax in to.

"It's a little soon. But I've never heard you say anything like that before, so, what do we do?" Bucky just shook his head and brought his hand up to clutch at the arm wrapped around him. "Should we battle plan?"

Bucky gives him a suspicious side-eye, "You're thinking about one of Clara's lists, aren't you?"

"She organized a wedding to me of all people, in like 3 months with those lists. They work. But I was trying to make it seem more manly. Battle plan."

Bucky snorted. "Why not?"

A little bit later they've repositioned the whole room. The coffee table has been replaced by the kitchen table, though the kitchen chairs are still in the kitchen. The couch is on the opposite side of the room, meaning that it's basically blocking the front door, to give a space along the foundational wall that Bucky can pace while Dugan stands on the coffee table next to the kitchen table so he can see the "battle plan" which is an array of notebook paper that they duct taped together. The paper covers the whole table, and contains a wide array of lists that may or may not be relevant, but also an obscene amount of arrows pointing at the random facts of things and several bad stick figure drawings that Dugan added at various points. Not to mention the hearts he's been drawing over the heads of the little one-armed figure whenever Bucky sighs. Dugan had at one point pulled out Bucky's game of Risk and upended the pieces across the table, indicating something or other that Bucky couldn't figure out. The pizza boxes are empty and Bucky has no idea what happened to the empty beer cans.

"God, why couldn't you have brought coffee?"

"You're already jittery enough," Dugan said while chewing on the end of a pencil and moved around a few of the Risk pieces as Bucky continued to pace.

"Still, would have been better than the beers." Bucky grumbled.

A loud knock interrupted whatever Dugan would have said and Bucky had to crawl under the table and pull the couch back so there was space for him to crawl over it and open the door.

Steve stood on the other side of the door with coffees and a paper bag in his hands, a sheepish smile on his face.

"Good morning?" His baby blue eyes watered the desert plains of Bucky's sleep deprived soul, and Bucky felt himself melting a little bit before realization hit.

"SHIT!" Bucky shouted suddenly and spun to the rest of the room, not shutting the door on Steve, but quickly turning to the chaos of that was the room. He grabbed a shoe and threw it at Dugan, it bounced off his shoulder and landed on the table.

"What the fuck!?" He shouted back and then threw the shoe back, it hit the doorframe, he never was as good of a shot as Bucky was.

"Dum Dum! Hide the fucking battle plans!" Bucky screeched at him, ducking down to scoop up the shoe and throw it again, but caught sight of Dum Dum's face that was morphing into realization.

"Oh, fuck!" Dugan shouted and grabbed the hodge-podge of papers and sprinted to the bedroom. There was a clatter of Risk pieces tumbling across the table and the floor in his wake. Only then did Bucky turn back to Steve.

"Uh... Bad time?" Steve asked a look of confusion and maybe something else on his face.

"No!" Bucky said, though his heart was still pounding in his chest, "Do you, uh, want to come in?"

Steve glanced dubiously over Bucky's shoulder though he probably couldn't see much of the room from this angle. "Do you want me to come in?"

"Of course I do!" Bucky said, almost offended, then realized that he was still practically shouting and lowered his voice quickly. "Sorry, I... It's been a long morning. Please come in. One of those coffees for me?" Bucky smiled, tried to slide into something more normal and very much less crazy.

"Of course it is Buck. I assumed you hadn't had breakfast yet. It's your day off, right?"

"Yeah." Bucky smiled and Steve smiled back, his eyes still confused. Bucky turned back into the room and suddenly remembered the obstacle course of the room and looked back at Steve. "Just, uh, watch your step?"

Steve raised an eyebrow but stepped into the space with Bucky, realization hit his face when he got a look inside and saw why Bucky couldn't have opened the door the whole way.

"War Zone in here?" He asked, amusement in his tone as he shifted closer so that Bucky could close the door, trapping them both between the couch and the shoe rack.

"Well, a non-lethal one." Dugan chuckles out from his position he's retaken on top of the coffee table for some reason.

"Hi." Steve says, friendly, if still confused.

"Steve, this is Sergeant Timothy "Dum Dum" Dugan. He was in my unit. And somehow is my idiot best friend." Dugan gave a grin that the Cheshire cat would be proud of. "Dugan, this is Steve, my boyfriend." He left it at that because it wasn't like Tim didn't know exactly who Steve was.

"Sergeant." Steve offered, leaning over to offer his hand.

"Captain." Dugan replied, his grin only seeming to grow as they shook hands.

To his credit, Steve just smiled and shook his head a little bit, almost rueful. "So, Dum Dum, huh?"

"Eh, if the shoe fits." Dugan replied, almost smug and Bucky rolled his eyes at both of them. Bucky clambered over the couch and reached to take the coffees from Steve so he could climb over after him and then they were all at least on equal footing. Well, almost equal footing since Dugan was still on top of the coffee table.

"So, I interrupted something, huh?" Steve said, giving a meaningful glance at the chaos of the room, the moved furniture, and the scattered game pieces and pens.

"Just strategizing." Dugan replied, with a glint in his eyes that definitely did not mean anything good for Bucky. "One of those coffees for me?" He asked and Steve hesitated but Bucky wouldn't let that happen.

"No. They're clearly both for me." Bucky said abruptly, handing one of the coffees back to Steve with what he hoped was a reassuring smile, it seemed to set Steve a little more at ease anyway.

"Can I at least have a muffin or something?"

"You just had like 2 pizzas."

"We shared!"

"Pizza?" Steve asked, glancing at the clock on the wall. "It's 9am?"

"Like I said!" Bucky says quickly, interrupting Dugan from whatever his open mouth was going to say. "It's been a long morning." He gave Dugan a nasty look and then focused back on Steve. He took a step closer until they were almost chest to chest and smiled the little distance up at Steve.

"Hi there."

"Good morning." Steve replied with a smile of his own.

"Good morning." Bucky agreed and tilted his head up to catch Steve's lips against his own, they couldn't grab each other because all three of their hands were full, but they pressed their bodies closer together anyway as they kissed. Steve pulled away suddenly, glancing down at his hand where Dum Dum had snuck over and was trying to gently ease the bag of pastries out of his hand.

"Don't mind me." He said as he tugged again on the bag and Steve released it with a bark of laughter.

"Hey, get back here, you damn scavenger!" Bucky half heartedly yelled at him as he retreated with the bag of goodies. Steve tightened his grip on him when he turned and pulled him back a little. He didn't growl and he didn't say _'Mine!'_ but his eyes were a little bit darker than normal, his scent sharper in a way that could definitely be interpreted as possessive.

Bucky smiled and leaned into him a little bit more, oh, he was so going to tease Steve about this later.

"Do you have work today?"

Steve nods slowly, almost like he doesn't want to admit it. "Yeah, I have to be in in a little bit."

"Well, why don't you hang out until you have to leave?"

When Steve smiles this time it's a lot more genuine than any of other ones Bucky has seen from him this morning.

The three of them move to the couch, and Bucky liberates the stolen pastries from Dugan and gives them back to Steve.

It turns out that Steve and Dugan get along a little bit too well, but it makes Bucky laugh until his stomach is aching so he can't complain. The three of them are quickly exchanging war stories and when Dugan tells Steve that his grandfather knew Steve in the war, big blue eyes turn misty. Bucky settles easily in between the two of them, practically melting with the pleasure of two of the most important people in his life surrounding him on either side. The atmosphere is light and pleasant and makes Bucky feel like he's on clouds.

When Steve finally starts checking the clock regularly Bucky knows that he will have to leave soon. They move in tandem to quickly clean the room from the pastry packages and the coffee cups and while Dugan has hopped off to use the bathroom, Steve pulls Bucky in for a kiss, long and sweet.

"I really gotta get going, got a meeting in half an hour." Steve presses his forehead to Bucky's nuzzles him gently to scent him gently. "I'll see you later?"

"Sure, bye babe." Bucky said just for the pleasure of seeing Steve's face turn crimson. He grumbled at Bucky's delighted grin but just rolled his eyes and leaned in for another kiss.

"Nice to meet you!" Steve says to Dugan who's wandering back into the room lazily.

"You too, Cap!" Dugan says sincerely and Steve grins at him before climbing back over the couch so he can get the door open and head out.

There's a moment once he's gone that Bucky feels weirdly bereft. The room feels too big without him in it and he knows then that he's completely sunk on this man.

Dugan goes into the bedroom and returns with his arms full of out the papers that had been strewn all over the bedroom apparently. "Well, I don't think we need this anymore."

"What? Why not?" Bucky looked on mournfully as Dum Dum shoved it all into the garbage can.

"Because you're in love with him." Bucky felt his cheeks light up. "He's in love with you." His blush slid down his neck, and Dum Dum clasped his hand over what was left of Bucky's shoulder. "Not everything needs to be so complicated, Sarge."

"Well... shit." Bucky looked at his friend, completely... "Dum Dumbfounded. That's how I feel right now." Dugan threw back his head and roared with laughter until his whole body was shaking. "Seriously! When did you get wise?" Dugan tilted his head back down from his laugh with a sly grin.

"I captured myself the most amazing wife in the country, I gotta know what I'm talking about with this stuff after that."

"Shit man." Bucky slunk down to collapse on the couch. "You really think it can be that easy?"

Dugan slumped down next to him, almost on him, to wrap an arm over his shoulders. "Hell, my dude. I ain't never seen that look on your face before. And seeing the same look on his face. Hell, you two would make believers outta anybody." He gave Bucky a long meaningful look and then tucked him in closer to his side with a squeeze that nearly took the breath out of his lungs. "Maybe even you."

Bucky sank into the warmth of his friends embrace, relaxing fully into the familiar comfort, the long night and the panic leaving him exhausted. "You think so?" Bucky asked, his voice nearly a whisper.

"Yeah, kid. I think so. I like 'em. Good thing too, because as much as I absolutely would have tried, I don't really fancy getting my ass handed to me by Captain Goddamn America."

Bucky laughed and shut his eyes. "You like him though?"

"So far I do. And as long as he keeps making you looking like this- I'm gonna keep likin' him."

Bucky cracked an eye open to look up at his friend. "Looking like what?"

"Like a goddamn fool in love. You look like he's the one who hung the fucking moon, you know."

Bucky wanted to deny it but part of him was just so relieved that Dugan approved, and Steve was no longer keeping secrets from him, that the tension from the revelations of yesterday and the sleepless night were draining out his feet the longer he sat on his sofa.

"Can't believe this." Dugan grumbled but he had a smile in his voice.

"What?"

"You got to drink that damn coffee when it clearly didn't even help you staying awake! That coffee's ass should have been mine."

Bucky peeled his eyes open again to laugh at his friend. "You big fucking baby. Your wife keeps your at home coffee maker stocked with the good shit and you want to have bad store coffee. That's so lame."

"You're so lame." Dugan teased back childishly and Bucky laughed and stretched, forcing himself out of his friends grip.

"Help me put the furniture back and then let me take a nap. I spent all night defiling a national icon." Bucky laughed as Dugan made take gagging noises.

"Brain bleach!"

Bucky shook his head and got up, turning to pull the other to his feet.

They laughed and joked while they set the room right and cleaned up the mess that they'd made, it would have taken Bucky ages to do but three hands was definitely better than one, so it didn't take long.

"You know," Dum Dum said thoughtfully from the shoe rack he was pulling his shoes from, "We haven't pack bonded in a while, you doing okay?"

Bucky resisted the urge to roll his eyes, knowing that Dum Dum was asking out of a good place, but at heart he was still an Alpha and didn't completely get an omega's physiological need to have a pack and to scent with them.

"What do you think we've been doing since you got here?"

Dugan nodded but still looked long and hard at his friend. "So, you're good?"

"Yeah, Tim. I'm good. Thanks."

"Anytime, pal." He promised and then he was out the door.

Bucky collapses back on the couch with a huff. There's a moment where he expects his mind to go back into a spiral or at least into planning mode, there's lots Steve and him have to figure out now, but his eyes shut all on their own and it's only minutes before the darkness of sleep brings him into its soft embrace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter might not be out until next week, I have a little bit more to work on to make it how i want it to be, but I'll see you guys soon!


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